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Resources - Glossary

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Accountability: The demand by a community (public officials, employers, and taxpayers) for school officials to prove that money invested in education has led to measurable learning. http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/assess/terminology.htm

Accreditation: A certification awarded by an external, recognized organization, that the institution or program meets certain requirements overall, or in a particular discipline. http://people.jmu.edu/yangsx/AlphaTerm.asp

Achievement Test: A standardized test designed to efficiently measure the amount of knowledge and/or skill a person has acquired, usually as a result of classroom instruction. Such testing produces a statistical profile used as a measurement to evaluate student learning in comparison with a standard or norm. http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/assess/terminology.htm

Affective: Outcomes of education involving feelings more than understanding; likes, pleasures ideals, dislikes annoyances, values. http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/assess/terminology.htm

Assessment: Is any effort to gather, analyze, and interpret evidence which describes institutional, departmental, divisional, or agency effectiveness (Upcraft & Schuh, 1996).

Assessment of Student Learning: Measures both direct and indirect, used to evaluate student learning in order to change, improve, and enhance student learning and the college experience. In doing so, the College provides accountability measures to serve the internal need of the College and in meeting requirements of external agencies. http://www.ozarka.edu/assessment/glossary.cfm

Backload (--ed, --ing): Amount of effort after the data collection. http://www.ozarka.edu/assessment/glossary.cfm (See frontloading)

Benchmark: A criterion-referenced objective; "Performance data that are used for comparative purposes. A program can use its own data as a baseline benchmark against which to compare future performance. It can also use data from another program as a benchmark. In the latter case, the other program often is chosen because it is exemplary and its data are used as a target to strive for, rather than as a baseline." (p. xv) Hatry, H., van Houten, T., Plantz, M., & Greenway, M.T. (1996). http://people.jmu.edu/yangsx/AlphaTerm.asp

Bias: A situation that occurs in testing when items systematically measure differently for different ethnic, gender, or age groups. Test developers reduce bias by analyzing item data separately for each group, then identifying and discarding items that appear to be biased. http://www.k2kid.net/assessment/assessment_terms.html

Cohort: A group whose progress is followed by means of measurements at different points in time. http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/assess/terminology.htm

Competency: Level at which performance is acceptable. http://www.ozarka.edu/assessment/glossary.cfm

Core Element(s): Are the basic everyday functions that are essential components of individual departments. In previous years they have been known as critical processes, continuous objectives and basic operations. (UGA Specific)

Course Assessment: Using direct and indirect measures to determine if the student outcomes at the course level have been met and using this data to enhance student learning. http://www.ozarka.edu/assessment/glossary.cfm

Criterion-referenced: Criterion-referenced tests determine what test takers can do and what they know, not how they compare to others. Criterion-referenced tests report how well students are doing relative to a pre-determined performance level on a specified set of educational goals or outcomes included in the curriculum. http://www.ozarka.edu/assessment/glossary.cfm

Direct Measurements: Standardized or non-standardized objective measures demonstrating competency in specific areas. http://www.ozarka.edu/assessment/glossary.cfm

Effectiveness (results of operations) is how well an approach, a process, or a measure addresses its intended purpose. http://www.cnu.edu/admin/assess/about/plans/glossary.htm

Enhancement: An Enhancement can be the improvement of a core element (process, service or program that is essential to daily operation, formerly called an enhancement), or the creation of a new program (formerly called an innovation). Any improvement made to your operation is considered an enhancement. (UGA Planning Model Specific)

Evaluation: Any effort to use assessment evidence to improve institutional, departmental, divisional or unit effectiveness. (UGA Planning Model Specific)

Forced-choice: The respondent only has a choice among given responses (e.g., very poor, poor, fair, good, very good). http://www.ozarka.edu/assessment/glossary.cfm

Formative Assessment: Intended to assess ongoing program/project activity and provide information to improve the project. Assessment feedback is short term in duration. http://www.ozarka.edu/assessment/glossary.cfm

Frontload (--ed, --ing): Amount of effort required in the early stage of assessment method development of data collection. http://www.ozarka.edu/assessment/glossary.cfm

Human Subjects Office: The Human Subjects Office provides administrative and secretarial support for the IRB, and assists researchers through the application and approval process. The Administrator acts on behalf of the IRB and the University when providing assurance of human subjects approval to sponsoring agencies, or when dealing with regulatory agencies. The Human Subjects Office staff is responsible for regularly monitoring IRB compliance, and updating IRB procedures with current and/or new relevant federal or state regulations. http://www.ovpr.uga.edu/hso/guidelines.html#1

Indirect Measurements: Opinion surveys, interviews, and other subjective data combined with enrollment analyses, retention rates, graduation rates, employment data, transfer data, and other measures that provide data that can be analyzed as indicators of student learning. http://www.ozarka.edu/assessment/glossary.cfm

Institutional Assessment: Assessment of institutional mission and goal statements including student services, financial stability, business and industry training, adult education, as well as academic programs. http://www.ozarka.edu/assessment/glossary.cfm

Institutional Review Board: The IRB is charged with the responsibility of protecting the rights and welfare of human subjects involved in research.(See Human Subjects Office). http://www.ovpr.uga.edu/hso/guidelines.html#1

Learning Outcomes: Changes or consequences that occur as a result of enrollment in a particular educational institution and involvement in its courses and programs. What a student is able to know, demonstrate, analyze, and synthesize following course and program instruction. http://www.ozarka.edu/assessment/glossary.cfm

Longitudinal Studies: Data collected from the same population at different points in time. http://www.ozarka.edu/assessment/glossary.cfm

Norm-reference: A norm-referenced test is designed to highlight achievement differences between and among students to produce a dependable rank order of students across a continuum of achievement from high achievers to low achievers. http://www.ozarka.edu/assessment/glossary.cfm

Observer Effect: The degree to which the assessment results are affected by the presence of an observer. http://www.ozarka.edu/assessment/glossary.cfm

Open-ended: Assessment questions that are designed to permit spontaneous and unguided responses. http://www.ozarka.edu/assessment/glossary.cfm

Departmental Plan: This document is created within each individual department. Previous Departmental Plans have been called Annual Strategic Plans, and Yearly Plans. Previously this was a document that required departments to report on Critical Processes, Innovations, Enhancements and Assessments. (UGA Planning Model Specific)

Program Assessment (Program Review): The program outcomes are based on how each part is interacting with the rest of the parts, not on how each part is doing individually. The knowledge, skills, and abilities that students achieve at the end of their programs are affected by how well courses and other experiences in the curriculum fit together and build on each other throughout the undergraduate years. http://www.ozarka.edu/assessment/glossary.cfm

Program Objectives: Reflects student learning outcomes and achievements related to the academic program as a unit rather than an individual course. http://www.ozarka.edu/assessment/glossary.cfm

Reliability: Reliability is the extent to which an experiment, test, or any measuring procedure yields the same result on repeated trials. http://www.ozarka.edu/assessment/glossary.cfm

Rubrics: A rubric is a set of categories that define and describe the important components of the work being completed, critiqued, or assessed. Each category contains a gradation of levels of completion or competence with a score assigned to each level and a clear description of what criteria need to be met to attain the score at each level.
http://www.ozarka.edu/assessment/glossary.cfm

Stakeholder: Anyone who has a vested interest in the outcome of the program/project. http://www.ozarka.edu/assessment/glossary.cfm

Summative Assessment: An assessment that is done at the conclusion of a course or some larger instructional period (e.g., at the end of the program). The purpose is to determine success or to what extend the program/project/course met its goals. http://www.ozarka.edu/assessment/glossary.cfm

Third Party: Person(s) other than those directly involved in the educational process (e.g., employers, parents, consultants). http://www.ozarka.edu/assessment/glossary.cfm

Triangulation: The use of a combination of assessment methods in a study. An example of triangulation would be an assessment that incorporated surveys, interviews, and observations. http://www.ozarka.edu/assessment/glossary.cfm

Utility: The usefulness of assessment results. http://www.ozarka.edu/assessment/glossary.cfm

Validity: Refers to the degree to which a study accurately reflects or assesses the specific concept that the researcher is attempting to measure. Validity has three components: relevance (direct measurement), accuracy (how precise are the measurements), and utility (how clear are the implications for improvement). http://www.ozarka.edu/assessment/glossary.cfm

Variable: Observable characteristics that vary among individual responses. http://www.ozarka.edu/assessment/glossary.cfm

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