Guiding Principles of Assessment at The New School
Assessment of student learning is the systematic and cyclical process through which faculty members, department chairs and program directors articulate learning outcomes for their courses and programs; align learning opportunities with outcomes; measure students' progress toward meeting outcomes; and use this information to improve their courses, programs, and institutions. Our challenge is to engage in assessment in ways that teach us more of what we want to know as educators—that is, to strategically use assessment as a pedagogical tool.
We are committed to quality teaching and learning and to continual re-examination of our effectiveness. Assessment is a tool that enables faculty to determine how to improve and reshape student learning.
Program and course assessment is directed by faculty with the intention of improving teaching and learning and is a formalization of work in which faculty already engage.
Assessment is not intended and will not be used to evaluate individual faculty members.
Program assessment is intended to evaluate students' broad learning experiences across the curriculum and co-curricular activities.
Assessment will vary across programs and should be designed to be ongoing and sustainable to support continuous improvement of student learning.
You can find more detailed information about assessment of student learning here.