Action Plan

Applying benchmarks or standards to assessment

Name

Institution

Assessment fulfills a purpose: to interpret and use the results effectively and appropriately to promote improvement and accountability in an organization. An organization is obligated to identify appropriate standards for assessment to ensure quality and effectiveness of the results. I shall discuss good assessment practices, steps to setting good quality benchmarks and criterion to judge the quality and effectiveness of an assessment (L. Suskie). To begin with, a good assessment practice has two qualities: it yields results that are used to improve teaching and learning, is sustained and pervasive. Improvement provides opportunities for stakeholders to engage in self-reflection of the institutional goals and determine if the activities, products and performance correspond to the mission, vision and objectives consequently, improving achievement. Sustainability and pervasiveness means assessment should be used for an extended period while involving all the relevant stakeholders (KENT STATE UNIVERSITY).

There are steps involved in setting good quality benchmarks as discussed below. First, is knowing how the assessment results will be used: who will use the results and what decisions the results will inform. The purpose should either to identify areas of improvement or maintain status quo. The decisions would either be to set standards high or low to complement the purpose. Second, is stating the harm of setting the bar too high or too low. In addition, involvement of external stakeholders i.e. Peer programs and colleges would inform decisions of the assessment discussion. Besides, having a clear category, with clear description of performance and evaluating the assignment that the category is appraising informs the assessor’s thinking as well as determines the importance of assessment. For every category identify a criterion to determine performance level i.e. grammar and have a group vote based on quality. Lastly, the benchmark should be grounded on data which is subjected to discussion to determine if they have achieved the benchmark standards (L. Suskie).

In conclusion, to determine the quality and effectiveness of an assessment the following should be considered: having a clear purpose by aligning the assessment with the culture of the organization, involving stakeholders in decisions involving formation evaluation and implementation of assessment, choosing of what and how to assess, telling the assessment story based on the evidence and lastly improvement and follow up based on lessons learned from the process (Brans Kamp). Assessment is an important part of strategic planning and organizational decisions making which determine the organization success. Therefore, organizations should allocate enough resources to ensure that assessment is feasible.

Works Cited Brans Kamp, L. A., & Engberg, M. E. Guidelines for judging the effectiveness of assessing student learning. . 2014. 11 February 2020. KENT STATE UNIVERSITY. WHY IS ASSESSMENT OF STUDENT LEARNING IMPORTANT? n.d. <https://www.kent.edu/aal/why-assessment-student-learning-important>. Suskie, L. What is good assessment? . 17 March 2014. 11 February 2020. Suskie, L. Setting meaningful benchmarks or standards. . 23 March 2015. 11 February 2020.