The fundamental purpose of program assessment at Western Kentucky University is to encourage continuous improvement in educational programs and administrative and educational support services. Assessment is an ongoing process in which programs and units establish desired student outcomes or administrative objectives and then measure the extent to which those outcomes/objectives are being achieved. Results of the measurements are used to drive improvements in programs and operations that benefit not only the students but the entire campus community.

Program assessment at Western Kentucky University is not purely an administrative function. It is a collaborative process that involves and benefits students, faculty, staff, and administrators. Program assessment activities can be used to:

·   Document program effectiveness in improving student learning
·   Gather information to improve processes and services
·   Support and evaluate program/unit contributions to the University Mission and 
    Strategic Goals
·   Validate the Institutional Effectiveness component of regional accreditation
    criteria
·   Show evidence of merit for unit productivity awards
·   Demonstrate program quality for Academic Program Review
·   Document the assessment component of programmatic accreditation criteria
·   Demonstrate program/unit excellence to external audiences (e.g. perspective
    students, parents, perspective employers, alumni, the Kentucky Council on
    Post-secondary Education, state legislators, etc.)
·   Inform policy decisions at the local and state level
·   Evaluate models of best practice and other benchmarks