To evaluate the strength of its institutional effectiveness process for educational programs and codify the type of assessment initiatives within the various stages of the process, the SLO Oversight Committee uses a Descriptive Analysis Worksheet, which was modeled (with permission) after a similar practice at the University of Mississippi.

The worksheet captures descriptive details about the instances of and differentiation between:

• student learning outcomes and program objectives;
• direct and indirect assessment methods used to assess student learning; and
• improvements (action steps) implemented to improve student learning.