MAC Meeting Minutes July 2003

Missouri Assessment Consortium
Meeting notes - July 11, 2003

The meeting was held at the DHE building in Jefferson City. Martha Kirker hosted. Dave Oehler served as historian. Attendees/participants: Pat Gillman, Joe Lange, Larry McDoniel, Charles Van Middlesworth, Cleo Samudzi, Sue Pieper, Mark Easter, Janet Juhlin, Delores Honey, Martha Kirker, Kandis Smith, Mike Grelle, Michael Cunningham, Dave Oehler.

10:00 Welcome, agenda preview

10:00 Evaluation of Assessment Instruments (Mike Grelle, Chris Frazier)

Mike had no new report on this item. Something will go out on the web soon.

10:35 Links to local general education information (Delores Honey, Dave Oehler)

Please send your links to Dave Oehler. Dave will send out the draft materials to date with these minutes (Handbook Web Link Pages).

10:45 Joint meeting with CAOs (follow-up) (Mike Grelle, Dave Oehler, Charles Van Middlesworth)

Dave, Mike, and Charles will put together a proposal for a joint set of meetings to run concurrently with the CMSU spring assessment showcase next March. This will involve institutions sending departmental representatives, as well as faculty representing the areas of writing assessment and valuing. We will attempt to have a plan in place by August to return to CAOs for their information, and to solicit support in identifying faculty to attend (with sufficient time for their planning), and to cover travel expenses for attendees. We might have a special session to look at how institutions are attempting to document and report achievement of competencies.

10:55 Data sharing project (Ron Pennington in absentia)

A few people have downloaded the files and begun working with them. Joe Lange will send to the listserv a Microsoft Access database template for importing the data (for those wishing to use Access).

Discussion ensued on commercial software systems (Banner, PeopleSoft, Datatel) and their use for institutional research and assessment.

11:10 Embedded assessment - design of a mechanism ()

Charles and Mike discussed how embedded assessment is developing on their campuses.11:25 MAC activity and impact on accreditation ()

Assessment is now clearly embedded in the Higher Learning Commission criteria, across all of the criteria.

11:30 Transfer of assessment data ()

Creating articulation agreements across goals and/or competencies might be an outcome from the March meeting. We should try to do some pre-work making sure that our institutional matrices are in a format so that they can be easily compared.

11:35 High school data requests for the Missouri School Improvement Program (MSIP) (Martha Kirker)

Martha distributed a copy of a data request from a feeder high school, and asked whether these questions were required by DESE, or whether high schools were developing their own questions. MAC agreed to explore the MSIP requirements and to recommend appropriate, easily reportable data that could be given to high schools to help them meet their MSIP requirements.

11:40 DHE website (Cleo Samudzi)

Cleo asked for feedback on the structure of the CBHE website - it will be redesigned in the near future.

While the current structure is convenient for those of us who are familiar with assessment in the state, new users might not find the embedded materials very easily. A couple of menu trees (limited to 2 or 3 levels) might be useful for finding links quickly. There are focus groups looking at the design of the DHE website.

12:25 Announcements

Larry McDoniel announced that Steve Spangehl will be at the St. Louis Community College to talk about the differences between AQIP and PEAQ on September 26. If guests are permitted, Larry will let us know.

Next meeting date: Wednesday, November 12 in conjunction with the Mid-AIR (Nov 12-14) meeting in Kansas City, 11:00 to 1:00.

Next meeting host: Charles Van Middlesworth will host. Dave Oehler will serve as historian.

Agenda for next meeting:

1. Evaluation of Assessment Instruments (MG, CF)
2. Links to local general education information (DO, DH)
3. Joint meeting with CAOs (follow-up)
4. Data Sharing Project (RP)
5. Embedded assessment - design of a mechanism (MG, DO, CVM)
6. MAC Activity and Impact on Accreditation
7. Transfer of Assessment Data
8. High school data requests for the MSIP
9. DHE website
10. Announcements