Enacting a Unit Assessment System (UAS) is an incremental process. With each phase in the Unit's movement towards performance assessment, different groups of faculty shared their new experiences and models for assessment with each other, further elevating the sophistication of the overall assessment plan for the institution.
The rGrade Methodology was developed not just to produce accreditation reports, but to anchor the data and evidence of a Unit's teacher education reform efforts. These efforts included the use of digital portfolios, performance assessment, and standards alignment to curricula and student performance, all within rGrade. The general sequence below reflects an integrated process of of workflow change. However, the rGrade Methodology represents an adaptive approach that permits many entry points and phased introduction of assessment data points:
- Faculty and administrators articulate a performance
assessment framework
- Unit and program assessments are defined and
sequenced
- Academic programs are modeled in rGrade, inclusive of
assessments, standards, and curricula
- External or legacy data are pipelined into the
program models
- Assessment and advising responsibilities are defined
- Instruction and student learning generate artifacts
and assessment data
- Reports are generated for program improvement
Once assessments and degree and/or licensure programs are modeled in rGrade, they become available to instructors and students when they log into rGrade. The data model of rGrade permits programs and units to design their own workflow of assessment. rGrade also permits the Unit as a whole to develop assessment instruments that can be part of all programs. The resulting experience at the student level is a transparent assessment script for what is expected, when it is expected, in what course and/or by whom. The work of planning, designing, and implementing models for performance assessment is captured in a system that permits its continual evolution in response to the outcomes of assessment and the progress of the candidates.