Program Assessment Notes

In addition to assessments of its major and minor programs, the Department of English contributes to the university's general education assessment by regularly reviewing program expectations and student work in general education English courses.

While the courses being assessed vary from semester to semester, the format is generally consistent. A sample of papers is collected from every class of the course to be assessed. The samples are stratified random samples, so the course sample includes the same number of randomly selected students from each class. The instructors for the course collect appropriate papers for those students, remove identifying marks, and submit the papers for the assessment. Each paper is read by no fewer than two other English faculty and scored based on a series of criteria which rotates systematically.

This assessment is a program assessment; it in no way affects students' grades on the work examined.