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Student Learning Assessment Resources

Action Plans Impact of Past Improvements and Changes Overview

Action Plans – Impact of Past Improvements and Changes

Part of “closing the loop” in academic assessment is looking back on action plans from previous years to determine if any interventions that were implemented improved student learning. It can be difficult to see the effects of any changes in the midst of a busy semester, so this stage of the process offers an opportunity to reflect on what happened in your core course or program and how that showed up in your assessment results.

Start from your previous action plan, and provide an update on each proposed item. Link your assessment results from this year back to the interventions that were completed and note any initiatives that are ongoing.

Tips for Impact of Past Improvements

  • What changes were implemented and can you connect any of the results of this year’s assessment to those changes? Will you continue any of the changes you made? Will you make adjustments to the previous action plans based on the updated results?
  • Be sure to include details about the changes made, the timeline of those changes, and the people who participated. Department meeting minutes or notes from discussions can be used to document the process of making and evaluating these changes.
  • While changes to the assessment process could be part of this section, take this opportunity to focus on teaching strategies and student learning improvement, which are the central purpose of the assessment process.

Keep in mind: Things don’t always go according to plan, for very good reasons. If you were unable to implement a specific part of your past action plan, be direct and honest about it in your assessment document. Simply offer an explanation of the challenges you encountered and how you plan to resolve those issues going forward. Or, if you decided to replace strategies with a different approach, just explain the changes that were made and why the new interventions are appropriate to address those areas.

Examples

For examples of impact of past improvements and changes from Georgia Southern University academic programs, please see the Academic Program Assessment Document Handbook or the Core Course Assessment Document Handbook.

Impact of Past Improvements Peer-review Criteria

Academic Program Student Learning Outcomes Impact of Past Improvements and Changes Criteria

At Georgia Southern, the Academic Assessment Steering Committee (AASC) reviews all academic program assessments documents on annual basis. When reviewing impact of past improvements and changes, the committee uses the following rubric criteria to provide feedback to the program:

1 - BEGINNING 2 - DEVELOPING 3 - ACCEPTABLE 4 - EXEMPLARY
No actions taken during the current cycle. No justification is given for actions taken during the current cycle that were not based on the prior year's action plan. Actions taken during the current cycle seem unrelated to the prior year's action plan. A copy of the proposed action plan from the previous cycle is included. All proposed actions from the prior year's action plan are addressed, but details about implementation are insufficient. If actions proposed during the previous cycle were not implemented, no reasonable justification is given. All proposed actions from the prior year's action plan were specifically addressed, including who implemented them, when they were implemented, and the outcome of the implementation. If actions proposed during the previous cycle were not implemented, reasonable justification is given. If actions taken during the current cycle were not proposed during the previous cycle, they are reasonably justified through external evidence. The report reflects with sufficient depth on the implementation of proposed actions and the data returned from them during the assessment cycle. Additional documentation is provided, showing the implementation of proposed actions (e.g., course syllabi, meeting minutes, curriculum change forms, etc.)

General Education Student Learning Outcomes Impact of Past Improvements and Changes Criteria

At Georgia Southern, the General Education and Core Curriculum (GECC) Committee reviews all core course assessment documents on an annual basis. When reviewing impact of past improvements and changes, the committee uses the following rubric criteria to provide the feedback to the course:

1 - BEGINNING 2 - DEVELOPING 3 - ACCEPTABLE 4 - EXEMPLARY
No actions taken during the current cycle. No justification is given for actions taken during the current cycle that were not based on the prior year's action plan. Actions taken during the current cycle seem unrelated to the prior year's action plan. A copy of the proposed action plan from the previous cycle is included. All proposed actions from the prior year's action plan are addressed, but details about implementation are insufficient. If actions proposed during the previous cycle were not implemented, no reasonable justification is given. All proposed actions from the prior year's action plan were specifically addressed, including who implemented them, when they were implemented, and the outcome of the implementation. If actions proposed during the previous cycle were not implemented, reasonable justification is given. If actions taken during the current cycle were not proposed during the previous cycle, they are reasonably justified through external evidence. The report reflects with sufficient depth on the implementation of proposed actions and the data returned from them during the assessment cycle. Additional documentation is provided, showing the implementation of proposed actions (e.g., course syllabi, meeting minutes, curriculum change forms, etc.)

Impact of Past Improvements and Changes Additional Resources