Academic Assessment Reports College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

This DATAWave provides a synopsis of each of the academic outcomes assessment results for the 1996-97 academic year for those departments of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences which have filed summary reports pursuant to the Plan for Assessment of Student Academic Achievement adopted by Eastern’s Board of Regents.  The portions of the results selected to be summarized here are chosen to give the reader a sense of the goals and accomplishments of the various Liberal Arts and Sciences academic departments and the means of measuring those accomplishments, and should not be taken as representative of the entire report, which can be seen at the Assessment Resource Office Web site, http://www.enmu.edu/~testaa.

Larry N. Smith, J.D.
Planning Associate

Anthropology

• In the undergraduate program, 80% of graduates indicated that they both possessed the basic knowledge and were satisfied with their learning in the basic knowledge in all major sub-fields.

• 75% of graduate students passed the candidacy exam.

• A strength included was that the department continues to get applicants recommended from others in the field.  A weakness listed was the lack of a linguistics/ethnographer.

Biology

• In the undergraduate program, graduates scored well above the criterion of 40% on the Educational Testing Service exam.

• In the graduate program, all graduates scored above the 70th percentile on a departmental exam of general biology, achieving the assessment criterion.

Chemistry

• Virtually all graduates of the chemistry program at Eastern were employed in a scientific or technical area or in graduate school or in medical school.

• Close faculty/student interactions, special research opportunities, and the overall quality of the curriculum are cited as strengths.

• Assessment results point to weakness in the organic chemistry component of the curriculum, as seen in both senior assessment ACS scores and in exit interviews and interviews after graduation.  Changes to address that weakness are being considered.

Communicative Arts and Sciences

• In the Mass Communications undergraduate program, portfolios of representative works of graduates achieved an average of 4.1 on a 5 point scale (5 being superior) as judged by faculty and community professionals, achieving the criterion set.

• All criteria set for the Communications graduate program were implemented and achieved.  All graduates completed a thesis/project/examination in which a comprehensive understanding of their discipline was demonstrated.

• The Communicative Disorders undergraduate program set four assessment criteria which were all implemented.  Three of the four criteria were achieved.  In the fourth, the criterion was very close to being achieved.  The criterion involved observation of assessment and treatment sessions, writing of treatment plans, conducting therapy sessions, and writing summary reports.

• The Communicative Disorders graduate program’s extensive assessment criteria were all implemented, and only one was not entirely achieved. 100% of graduates passed the national examination in speech-language pathology on their first attempt. 91% passed the written and oral portions of their master’s exam/thesis on their first attempt.  Surveys of graduate alumni from the prior five years, as well as their employers, indicate that the academic and clinical training of Eastern communicative disorders alumni is rated favorably.

Computer Science

• On the Educational Testing Service exam, the goal of 80% scoring at or above the 50th percentile was almost achieved.  The small number of students taking the test made achieving the goal extremely difficult.  The department concluded that it was overly optimistic to predict that 80% of the graduates would be above the national average.

• A survey of graduates one year after employment was inconclusive regarding preparation for a beginning position in computer science. Negative comments concerned the applied portion of the curriculum rather than the theoretical portion. Curriculum changes have been initiated.

Geology

• As the assessment results were based on only one graduate, it would be inappropriate to report them here.

• The strength reported was: "Based on the limited testing we have done, we seem to be doing a good job of preparing students for practical application of knowledge, i.e., rock and mineral identification and map interpretation."

History

• The department is implementing a substantially revised Academic Outcomes Assessment Plan this year.  Results will be available next year.

Mathematics

• On the Educational Testing Service exam, 80% scoring at or above the 50th percentile was not achieved.  The small number of students taking the test made achieving the goal extremely difficult.  The department concluded that it was overly optimistic to predict that 80% of the graduates would be at or above the national average.

• Surveys returned by math graduates of the last three years indicated that all strongly agreed or agreed that they were well prepared mathematically for their first position.

• Surveys returned by math graduates of the last three years indicated that a majority strongly agreed that they felt comfortable using a computer as a mathematical tool.

• All criteria for the mathematics education program were met.  Further information cannot be reported due to the small number of graduates of the program.

Nursing

• 80% of graduates agreed that the nursing program "implements nursing actions based on current nursing theory," and 100% agreed that the program "uses research findings to improve nursing practice."

• 100% of graduates agreed that the program "remains current in the area of new disease etiology, intervention, and prognosis."

• 90% of the graduates’ employers agreed that the graduates "show evidence of critical thinking in effectively fulfilling the responsibilities of job description" and "communicate effectively with patients/clients, peers, subordinates, supervisors, members of the health team, and families."

• 100% of employers agreed that the program "collaborates with other health professionals and providers to promote health of patients/clients."

• 100% of the graduates and employers agreed with the statement, "recognizes, accepts, and deals effectively with cultural differences in patients/clients, peers, subordinates, supervisors, members of the health care team, and patient/client families."

• 75% of graduates agreed with the statement, "participates in political and professional activities to enhance nursing practice within the institution."

• 90% of nursing graduates and employers agreed with the statement, "demonstrates leadership in nursing practice," and 100% agreed with the statement, "encourages professional growth behavior in peers and other nursing personnel."

• 40% of the graduates have enrolled or plan to enroll in graduate study within five years of graduation.

• One of the two weaknesses listed was the faculty concern that the program may not have an adequate number of preceptors and clinical resource persons as well as adequate numbers of practical sites to support a growing and more diverse student population.

Physics

• An examination, including participation by outside professionals, was given probing the ability of the graduating students to recognize physical processes and begin the steps necessary to solve a physics problem, and probing the ability of the students to recognize the underlying physics behind a particular physical situation in four major areas of physics: mechanics, quantum mechanics, thermodynamics, and electricity and magnetism.  The examination also ascertained the level of knowledge of certain facts pertaining to the field of physics.  The goal was for the students to correctly answer 70% of the questions.  The results were well above the criterion of 70%.

• All the graduates were employed or had full scholarships to a physics graduate program.

• A listed weakness of the program was that a nationally "normed" test was not being administered, leaving it unclear as to how our students compare to those at other universities.

Political Science

• The first of the two reported objectives of the department was to have students completing the program to compare favorably nationally, and the corresponding criterion was to have the graduates score at or near the 50th percentile on the Educational Testing Service Major Field Achievement Test in Political Science.  The criterion was achieved, the results being as follows:
  

• The second of the objectives was that the graduating students would be proficient in using problem-solving and critical thinking skills in a comparative framework, and the corresponding criterion was to have the graduates score at a mixed level of performance (between 41-60 points out of 100) on the ICAT Higher Order Critical Thinking examination, based on the universal standards of critical thinking. The criterion was achieved in that the mean score on the examination for department students was 64-75. The percentage of department students falling in each of the five levels for critical thinking skills were as follows:
  
  

• The strengths listed followed the above criteria.  The weaknesses listed were lack of breadth of courses due to the small size of the faculty, and insufficient funding to provide enough applied experiences.

Religion

• The criterion "80% of students will demonstrate through a final paper the ability to perform acceptable research" was implemented but not achieved.  Fewer than 80% of the students were able to present acceptable research papers, even though they demonstrated acceptable knowledge of the subject area and adequate ability to do research.

• As stated above, 80% of students did demonstrate acceptable knowledge of their subject area, thereby achieving another of the department’s criteria.

• Senior students in a "capstone" course wrote a research paper that, in over 80% of the cases, demonstrated that the students had both insight into their own religion and an understanding of it as part of their cultural background, thus achieving a criterion set in that regard.

Sociology

• The criterion that "the average score of graduates on the ETS Major Field Test will be at the 50th percentile compared to national results for the tests in Sociology or Criminal Justice/Criminology" was implemented and achieved.  No significant differences appeared between scores of ENMU students and the national average.  However, separate tests were administered to Sociology and Criminal Justice students; the latter scoring somewhat higher than the former.  For Sociology, the "methodology and statistics" area was weakest.  Though the Criminal Justice test results were not broken down into as much detail as the Sociology tests, 60% of ENMU students taking the test scored above the national average.  The mean was not reported.

Spanish

• The criteria "80% of graduates will pass an examination of grammar which tests students’ ability to correctly use advanced grammatical structures, accurate spelling and accentuation" and "it will also include an essay section which will measure the students’ writing abilities" were implemented and achieved.  The scores on the test ranged from 79% to 92%, with a majority of the students getting scores of 88% or above.

Ruidoso Instruction Center

Child Development Associate’s Degree

• 100% of AS degree graduates were employed in child care, Headstart, or daycare industries.

• 100% of AS graduates demonstrated proficiency in the competencies as measured by the transfer module matrix as prepared by the NM Early Childhood Education task force.

• 100% of employers who employ graduates indicated that they would again hire program graduates.

• Use of the results indicate that the Ruidoso and Roswell campuses need a new degree plan for transfer students seeking entry in the Portales campus baccalaureate program.

Child Development Certification Program

• In the certification program, the criteria implemented were very similar to the associate’s degree program, and all were achieved with 100% of the graduates.

General Banking Certification

• The program is only a year old, and there have been no graduates from the program yet.  Only 6.7% of students enrolled in the program have received grades below C.

• Feedback from students and from the financial institutions in the area suggest that the course offerings need to stay current with the American Institute for Banking curriculum, and AIB materials have continued to be used to modify classes.

General Studies-Associate of Arts

• In three different areas of study, the criteria implemented and achieved required that 80% of students would achieve CAAP test scores at or above the mean scores for ENMU-Roswell students.

• CAAP results have caused faculty and staff to continue advocating for the incorporation of Math, English, and Science requirements in the General Studies degree plan for all students.

Psychology-Associate of Arts

• There were no graduates in this program in AY96-97.  A weakness of the program is that this degree becomes more difficult to offer as fewer lower division course options become available through the Portales and Roswell catalogs.

Welding Technology Certification

• There were no Welding Technology graduates. The program, as outlined in the ENMU-Roswell catalog, has changed each year, causing some problems with certificate planning for students.

Hospitality and Tourism Certification

• This program is not offered for credit and is only offered by the Ruidoso Instruction Center when requested by the Ruidoso community. It was not conducted in AY96-97.

Liberal Arts: Education Prep Associates Degree

• There were no graduates of the program in AY96-97. The degree program was discontinued in the Portales campus catalog several years ago, and has now been discontinued at Ruidoso.