Liberal Arts Essentials Course Assessment Report
Course:
POLS211: State and Local Government
Writing Unit: Yes
Instructor:
Huber
Methods:
Examination & Faculty Evaluation Assessment Tool
LAE Category:
Social Foundations
Goal 3: Muskingum students will acquire multiple and integrative approaches to life-long learning.
Learning Objective 1: Students will demonstrate the ability to engage effectively in the lifelong
learning skills of acquiring, evaluating, synthesizing, and applying knowledge.
A. Student Outcomes
Number and
percentage of
students exceeding
expectations
Number and
percentage of
students meeting
expectations
Number and
percentage of
students failing to
meet expectations
1st Stream of Evidence – exam question
14 (33.3%)
19 (45.3%)
9 (21.4%)
2nd Stream of Evidence – evaluation1
25 (78.1%)
7 (21.9%)
0 (0%)
Learning Objective or Departmental
Perspective
B.
Student work examined
Summarize the tasks used to measure the objective (e.g., exams, research project/paper
assignments, presentation, or class assignment) and attach a copy of each (from Departmental
assessment instrument or other source).
All exams for this class are essay/short answer. The final exam includes the following essay
question:
“Outline the current system of federalism. Using the syllabus as a guidepost, develop an essay
that discusses how federalism informs your understanding of four separate areas we have
1
The numbers are different since not everyone filled out the LAE Course Assessment Evaluation
studied this semester (aside from federalism). Make sure to pull in relevant material from the
lectures, textbook, reader, and class discussion.”
Along with grading this question in a traditional sense, a separate assessment of the question
was conducted, using the rubric provided at the end of this form. This class seeks to provide
students with tools to understand how states and local governments work and interact with
other levels of government. Topics covered include democracy and constitutionalism in the
states, federalism, participation, parties, campaigns, state legislatures, governors, state courts,
state level bureaucracies, and a number of topics that change year to year (immigration,
education, welfare, zoning, etc.) The extent to which students are able to integrate a topic such
as federalism which affects many other aspects of states by creating limits on what is and is not
possible to accomplish along with setting ground rules, is a good indicator of how well the
course has successfully aided students in being able to integrate their various classes together in
a coherent fashion.
A second stream of evidence used was the LAE Course Assessment Evaluation Form given to
students during the final week of class. This form includes a question on how well the class did
in providing students the tools to acquire multiple and integrative approaches to life-long
learning. Using both a self-reported measure (the LAE Course Assessment Evaluation Form) and
a measure assessed by the faculty member (the final exam essay question) was done to help
ensure that multiple streams of data were used to develop a sense of how well the course is
meeting the goals of the LAE.
C. Scoring Criteria
Explain the criteria used to evaluate student performance in relation to the learning objective
(i.e., what constitutes advanced, proficient, partially proficient, not proficient, etc.) Attach
copies of measurement instrument or rubric (Departmental assessment instrument or other
source).
Advanced was defined as students being able to find, identify, and explain meaningful
connections between four areas of the course and federalism.
Proficient was defined as students being able to find, identify, and explain meaningful
connections between three areas of the course and federalism with one area being less than
fully found, identified, and/or fully explained.
Partially proficient was defined as students being able to find, identify, and explain meaningful
connections between two areas of the course and federalism with two areas being less than
fully found, identified, and/or fully explained.
Not proficient was defined as students being able to find, identify, and explain meaningful
connections between fewer than two areas of the course and federalism.
Examination Rubric
Objective
Examination
response demonstrate
how the student finds
meaningful
connections between
federalism and other
course topics
Examination
response demonstrate
how the student
identifies meaningful
connections between
federalism and other
course topics
Examination
response demonstrate
how the student
explains meaningful
connections between
federalism and other
course topics
Examination
response demonstrate
how the student
synthesizes
meaningful
connections between
federalism and other
course topics
4
Student found
meaningful
connections between
federalism and four
areas of the course
3
Student found
meaningful
connections between
federalism and three
areas of the course
2
Student found
meaningful
connections between
federalism and two
areas of the course
1
Student found
meaningful
connections between
federalism and less
than two areas of the
course
Student identified
meaningful
connections between
federalism and four
areas of the course
Student identified
meaningful
connections between
federalism and three
areas of the course
Student identified
meaningful
connections between
federalism and two
areas of the course
Student identified
meaningful
connections between
federalism and less
than two areas of the
course
Student explained
meaningful
connections between
federalism and four
areas of the course
Student explained
meaningful
connections between
federalism and three
areas of the course
Student explained
meaningful
connections between
federalism and two
areas of the course
Student explained
meaningful
connections between
federalism and less
than two areas of the
course
Student synthesized
meaningful
connections between
federalism and four
areas of the course
Student synthesized
meaningful
connections between
federalism and three
areas of the course
Student synthesized
meaningful
connections between
federalism and two
areas of the course
Student synthesized
meaningful
connections between
federalism and les
than two areas of the
course
Score: +_______/16
The LAE Course Assessment Evaluation Form provides students choices that range from 1 – 5.
For purposes of determining whether students viewed themselves as being able to
demonstrate the ability to engage effectively in the lifelong learning skills of acquiring,
evaluating, synthesizing, and applying knowledge (the learning objective), the following
three-part breakdown was applied:
Exceeding expectations was defined as a student giving an average score across the four
questions of 3.68 – 5.00.
Meeting expectations was defined as a student giving an average score across the four
questions of 2.33 - 3.67.
Failing to meet expectations was defined as a student giving an average score across the
four questions of 1 – 2.32.