University of Michigan - Flint

Assessment – What is it?

Assessment is a process the University of Michigan-Flint undertakes in order to determine how well it is meeting its mission and goals. Assessment is part of the institution's commitment to continual improvement.

Mission? What's that?
UM-Flint, as well as many of the offices and departments that make it up, has a written statement about its mission and goals. There are far too many to list them all here, but here’s the main one for UM-Flint:

The mission of the University of Michigan-Flint is to be the leading university in our region by:

• Educating all students in an environment that emphasizes literacy, critical thinking, and humanistic and scientific inquiry, while guiding their development into thoughtful and productive citizens and leaders.
• Facilitating student participation in the learning process and promoting individual attention to students through small class size and an involved faculty and staff.
• Assuring that faculty and staff give all those in our diverse student population the necessary guidance, support, and encouragement to achieve their academic goals.
• Enabling faculty to achieve high quality scholarship in areas of basic and applied research and creative activity.
• Promoting respect and understanding of human and cultural diversity.
• Collaborating with local and regional educational institutions and other public and private organizations to provide access to academic programs; advance economic, cultural, and artistic interests; and enhance health and education in our region.

Those are pretty great goals, aren't they? If you're interested in finding out about the missions and goals for the separate units of UM-Flint, you can find many of them listed in the Catalog or posted on this site.

How does assessment affect me?
As a student who uses the many services at the University, you can provide useful information about how well we're doing, and you will be asked to participate in various assessment efforts, some of which will take place while you’re a student, others after you graduate. You may be asked to fill out surveys or participate in focus groups, as examples. It is also likely that you will participate in various academic assessment efforts.

Academic assessment?
Academic assessment is directly linked to student academic achievement. The academic programs on campus – these include the General Education program, as well as the various concentration programs – have established learning goals for their students. Each program determines desirable student outcomes based on these goals, and it looks at its students' performance to see how well the program is meeting its objectives. Results of academic assessment are then used to improve programs and curricula.

OK, but what does this mean for me?
Specifics depend on your particular academic program and the assessment plan it has designed. You might be asked to take a test, write a paper, give a talk, or compile several pieces of your work into a portfolio, as examples.

Does this affect my grade?
Not directly – grades themselves are not used for academic assessment. In some cases, however, work you've done for a class might be also used separately for assessment purposes. Completion of assessment measures is also a graduation requirement for several programs.

What does the University do with the results of its assessment?
The University is required by its accreditors to make assessment results known to the public. One of the ways it has done this is by creating this Web site. You can find specific information about the mission, goals and outcomes of your program, as well as measured outcomes, on this site. Keep in mind, however, that assessment results are always anonymous and/or reported in a summarized form. Individual students' outcomes are never publicized.

Why should I participate in assessment?

Assessment is a process that helps the University improve all the ways it serves its students. Your participation in the process helps insure that improvement will take place, so you’ll be benefiting the students who follow you. Furthermore, you want the public to know that your degree comes from a solid and robust institution, and the University can prove its strength by showing that it has set high goals and that it is accomplishing them. You will be serving yourself and future students of UM-Flint with your honest and serious participation in assessment efforts.