In compliance with SB 161 passed by the New Mexico Legislature, Eastern New Mexico University regularly assesses student learning outcomes in general education courses. The Assessment Committee has created a five-year rotation to assure that all general education courses that are part of the statewide transferable core are regularly assessed, the results reported to the Higher Education Department and to our constituencies, and the results used by programs to enhance student learning.

General Education Assessment Plan

Effective August, 2019

The goals of the Eastern New Mexico University General Education assessment plan are to regularly and systematically assess, measure, and give formative feedback to faculty on our program's effectiveness at teaching the essential skills as defined by the state of New Mexico's Higher Education Department and by ENMU, consistent with its mission. This is done in a two-step process.

General education instructors assess their classes each year (or two years if that is the course rotation), and assessments are reviewed by the General Education Committee on a five-year rotation, with each subject area being represented in a single year's rotation. The General Education Committee distributes the necessary forms and instructions, while instructors assess their courses and reflect on improvements to close the loop. Instructors assess their courses using the form provided, and complete rubric-based score sheets to measure progress on the essential skills. Instructors receive formative feedback from the committee. Assessments are due to the committee by the third week of the semester, in accordance with the five-year schedule set by the committee.

Secondly, general education is assessed through use of a nationally-normed examination, administered on a regular schedule to a sample of first-semester freshmen and students classified as seniors. Most recently, the ETS Proficiency Profile Assessment (PPA) was used for this purpose, in the 2010–11 and 2015–16 academic years. Closing the loop, the General Education and Academic Assessment committees review institutional assessment results and results gathered through inter-institutional assessments of individual discipline areas approved as general education as described above. The University's assessment coordinator (a faculty assignment) oversees this review.

Formative feedback is disseminated through Assessment Day activities each January and serves as the base for workshops and other activities focused on enhancing ENMU's general education offerings for disciplines and professional development for instructors responsible for general education offerings.

Dr. Suzanne Balch-Lindsay
Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs
575.562.2314