In 2002, Northwest revised its 52-hour general education curriculum to a 42-hour general education curriculum, which was required by the state of Missouri. A team of faculty from across the state developed guidelines that outlined general goals within four skill area goals (communicating, higher-order thinking, managing information, and valuing) and four knowledge area goals (Social and Behavioral Sciences; Humanities and Fine Arts; Mathematics; and Life & Physical Sciences). Within each area, public post-secondary institutions determined their own specific learning objectives and the design of their curriculum. Initially, a broadly representative ad hoc team of faculty developed Northwest’s common student learning objectives, proposed them to the faculty senate, which then were recommended to and were approved by the Board of Regents. Since then, a permanent subcommittee of the Faculty Senate Curriculum and Degree Requirements (CDR) committee has been established that “make[s] recommendations to the Curriculum and Degree Requirements Committee [regarding] curricular matters related to Freshman Seminar, technology-based courses, the Honors Program, articulation agreements, General Education, dual-credit courses, and other matters as designated by the Curriculum and Degree Requirements Committee.” The Designated Curriculum Matters (DCM) subcommittee also ensures the objectives are consistent with the institution’s mission and educational KQIs.

Discipline-specific objectives are determined and proposed by the academic department responsible for the delivery and administration of the program. Departments use their SSPP (e.g., benchmarking in Step 1), advisory groups (e.g., alumni, professionals in the field, and other educators), external accrediting agencies, and information from students (e.g., student surveys, alumni surveys) to develop specific objectives. The objectives and corresponding curriculum, however, are sent through a rigorous faculty-review process that includes the DCM, CDR, and Faculty Senate (for general education/institutional requirement proposals); the CDR and Faculty Senate (for discipline-specific undergraduate curricular proposals); the Graduate Council (for discipline-specific graduate curricular proposals); or the Council on Teacher Education and Faculty Senate/Graduate Council (for undergraduate- [Faculty Senate] and graduate-level [Graduate Council] curricular proposals related to Teacher Education.)

Once the Board of Regents approves a proposal, it goes to the Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education (CBHE) for public comment and CBHE approval. The curriculum undergoes regular subsequent review by the Faculty Senate Assessment Committee, Faculty Senate Curriculum and Degree Requirements Committee and, if applicable, the Graduate Council during the department’s five-year review.

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Academic departments use the Seven-Step Planning Process (SSPP) to plan and manage program development. The SSPP will be described in detail in Category 8, but relevant to this question is Step 1:  Define and Validate Key Quality Indicators. At this stage, academic departments would identify internal and/or external factors that influence their programs, review national trends from professional associations, and discuss these trends with program advisory councils, practitioners in the field, and graduate follow-up studies for DESE programs. Reacting to this benchmarking, departments then might propose changes to existing programs or propose new programs, building on strength of faculty and/or faculty interests.  The proposals are then reviewed using our standard faculty governance curricular review process (described in 1P1).

In Step 3 of the SSPP, departments formulate an assessment strategy (i.e., identify measures/indicators, frequency of assessment, etc.) and in Step 5 they establish baseline data, track performance trends, etc.  Each year, academic departments review their plan, review the data and revalidate their KQIs, and report their progress to their academic dean and the provost, and discuss the report at the department’s annual meeting with their dean, the associate provost, the provost, and the president.

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Northwest is a moderately-selective institution. In admitting first-time freshmen students, Northwest combines a student’s high school GPA, ACT Score, and/or high school rank to determine his/her admissions index (see the Admissions webpage for complete information). Transfer students who have completed at least 24 hours of transferable, college-level coursework must have a 2.00 (on a 4.00 scale) cumulative college GPA at the time of transfer to Northwest. An ACT score is required for all education majors and is recommended for all transfer students for placement purposes. For transfer students with a cumulative college GPA below 2.00, admission consideration may be given based on professional judgment and acceptance may be granted on a probationary basis. In all cases, a student must be eligible to return to the last institution attended in order to be accepted to Northwest. For transfer students who have completed fewer than 24 hours of coursework, Northwest uses the freshman admissions requirements for consideration to admission, in addition to college work that has been completed. (Students transferring from non-accredited institutions also will be considered as a first-time freshman; credit cannot be transferred into Northwest from a non-accredited institution.) Northwest also uses ACT subscores to determine whether to place students in remedial or advanced coursework in Math and English courses.

Each year approximately 150 students who do not meet admission criteria are admitted to Northwest through the Enhanced Freshman Seminar (EFS) program. We have designed the EFS program for first-time freshmen who, after a thorough and thoughtful review of academic records and transcripts, we believe have the potential to be successful given the proper support. Students selected for participation in EFS have identifiable areas of weakness and must participate in special programming in order to enroll as a Northwest student. EFS students enroll in designated sections of Freshman Seminar, which are designed to help them with the transition from high school to college by helping them to develop skills and strategies needed for success in college. EFS students sign an "Understanding of Participation" that outlines Northwest's expectations of the student and what the student can expect from the program. Each participant receives an academic advisor/Freshman Seminar instructor who monitors his/her academic progress, acts as an information source, recommends tutoring if needed, and helps students register for future trimesters. Each EFS class also has a student Peer Advisor (PA) who mentors students individually from the perspective of a successful upperclassman. Each academic advisor receives regular grade and attendance checks for all participants; the advisor discusses the progress reports with the student and, when needed, makes recommendations for improving performance. Each year an average of 75 percent of the EFS students will return for their spring trimester. The success of the students in the program leads us to believe that the resources and structure of the program are truly beneficial.

Academic departments determine prerequisites and minimal performance standards for students completing their programs of study (and for admission to their graduate programs). For example, students applying for entry into the teacher education program must meet minimum GPA, ACT, and C-BASE standards to be admitted to a teacher education program; other departments require minimum scores on the MAPP exam for admission to advanced standing.

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Northwest communicates admission standards, registration services, programmatic expectations, and various opportunities for student support by way of:

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Before beginning their coursework at Northwest, each new student is involved in a comprehensive orientation program that matches the student’s individual skills, interests, and academic history to the student’s major requirements.  Advising professionals use ACT and SAT data, previous school records, and interest inventories to develop an appropriate course schedule for each student. 

Northwest considers academic advisement an extension of the teaching function, and therefore it is an important responsibility of the faculty. Academic advisors explain the university requirements and assist individual students in building programs that satisfy these requirements. Also, the advisors communicate to the students, particularly freshmen, the meaning of higher education and its significance to the student. Students must meet with their advisor at least once per academic term (i.e., students cannot receive their course preregistration password without meeting with their academic advisor). Advisors also discuss results of institutional assessments with students and, when necessary, recommend coursework based on the results.

One of the benefits of a broad-based General Education program is the exposure of students to many different subjects.  This helps students identify those subjects for which they have a genuine interest and aptitude. Additionally, the Office of Career Services and the Advisement Assistance office cosponsor the Exploring Majors event twice per year. This event – required for all freshmen – gives deciding students and those wishing to change their major or minor the opportunity to find information in one location. Faculty members and student representatives from Northwest's various academic departments gather in the student union to address students’ questions and to distribute literature.

Finally, after students complete 75 credit hours, they request their Senior deficiency statement. The major advisor, minor advisor, and Registrar identify courses the student needs in order to graduate on time. Once completed, the advisor discusses the resulting degree audit with the student. The purpose of the audit is to proactively increase the likelihood that students complete their degree requirements on time.

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The Faculty Handbook  provides the framework and incentive for the improvement of teaching and learning. Northwest uses formative and summative data to evaluate the effectiveness of teaching and learning. Each academic department has developed its own end-of-course teaching evaluation that students use to indicate their perception of the effectiveness of their instructors. While these surveys vary in their content, all departments ask students to rate faculty behavior in four areas:

1. The objectives (goals, purposes) of this course have been made clear.
2. The instructor helped me achieve the objectives of this course.
3. The instructor has provided regular feedback, which was useful in keeping me informed of my progress in this course.
4. The instructor was responsive outside of class time to requests for help.

The department average for each question is posted internally on the department’s dashboard. Department data are aggregated for the respective dean’s dashboard; college data are aggregated for the provost’s and president’s dashboards. At the end of each term in each course, students evaluate all faculty. The Faculty Handbook requires department chairpersons to conduct an annual performance evaluation of faculty, a significant portion of which is an evaluation of teaching. In addition to the student evaluations, evaluations of teaching may include results from in-class observations by the chair, a peer review of teaching, and/or a faculty self-evaluation.

The department’s and institution’s expectations relevant to teaching are communicated in a variety of ways: Through comparative data available via the dashboard, in annual department visits, by internal benchmarking, in college/faculty meetings, and through the Faculty Senate Welfare Committee via workshops. Most importantly, however, in addition to the annual review, expectations are communicated by the academic dean’s third- and fifth-year review of the faculty member. Academic deans advise, in writing, all full-time tenure track faculty of their progress at the end of the 3rd and 5th years of service. In addition, faculty with more seniority and who will vote on that person’s tenure participate in this review and offer feedback and improvement recommendations to the faculty member.  Finally, Northwest supports excellence in teaching through internal and external teaching awards. Each college offers teaching awards to its faculty, and Northwest nominates its faculty for the Missouri Governor’s Teaching Award.

Evidence of student learning is gathered by each faculty member, and he/she reports a grade to the Registrar once the student has completed a course. Faculty/Academic Department chairs also work with the Associate Provost/Director of Assessment and the Faculty Senate Assessment Committee in selecting standardized assessments of discipline-specific content:

1. Once they have completed 60 credit hours, Northwest assesses students’ reading, writing, math, and critical thinking skills using Measure of Academic Proficiency and Progress exam by ETS.
2. Students take a discipline-specific “senior assessment,” which may be a standardized assessment (e.g., Major Field Tests by ETS or ACAT, GRE, GMAT), Praxis (for Teacher Education students), or a completed portfolio for a faculty team to review (e.g., art majors).
3. Students seeking admission to teacher education must take the C-BASE.
4. Students are invited to complete the NSSE survey during their freshmen and senior years.

Other examples of data related to student learning:

1. The library faculty use the Information Literacy Test to determine the proficiency with which Northwest students can “navigate, critically evaluate and make sense of the wealth of information available through digital technology” and use the results to identify where curriculum development is needed.
2. The Talent Development Center tracks student data related to Supplemental Instruction participation and success.
3. Faculty use the Early Alert program to notify the Advisement Assistance Office staff of students who are not attending class. The staff then follow up personally with the student and refer them to the appropriate services, if necessary (e.g., Counseling Center, TDC)

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In addition to the rigorous review processes described in 1P1 and 1P2, departments organize the courses to facilitate student progression in a 4-year cycle. The CITE office also provides grants to faculty who develop online courses and three FTE instructor positions also are available through CITE to help departments develop online programs. CITE also provides delivery support and assistance with instructional technology and the course management system. Also, the trimester concept with a full summer trimester and four shorter summer sessions increase students’ options. Education programs are designed around the educator-practitioners’ schedules to accommodate their schedules.

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Each department in Student Affairs develops and uses student learning outcome (SLO) objectives for all programming, services, activities, and events.  SLO objectives are developed with the following elements in mind: Audience, behavior, condition, degree, and evaluation.  Additionally, each SLO objective must demonstrate linkage to University Key Quality Indicators, Student Affairs Divisional Key Quality Indicators, and Academic Department/Division Key Quality and Performance Indicators.  The evaluation of each SLO objective is measured through pre- and post-assessments.  The data from the SLO objectives, along with other normalized institutional data (e.g., Noel Levitz, NSSE, Residential Life Survey) are used to evaluate departmental seven-step planning progress via an annual report.

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The Director of Assessment, Information, and Analysis coordinates university-level assessment activities and provides logistical support to departments/units. Northwest administers an assessment of general education (i.e., the MAPP: Measure of Academic Proficiency and Progress) and a discipline-specific test at the completion of a student’s degree program. In the former instance, the Director works with the Faculty Senate Assessment Committee and academic department chairs to suggest alternatives and approaches to gathering data that respond to the changing needs of the state and institution. Regarding the discipline-specific assessment, the Director works with the academic departments to identify instrument options and provide assistance in the administration of the assessment. Changes to either measurement system can be made at any time as the need or opportunity arises. Changes might result because of changing requirements by the State, the availability of new instruments, changes to departmental measurement plans, or changes to university needs. (The Director serves as the liaison between the university and the Missouri Department of Higher Education as it relates to mandatory state assessments.) Other factors like the Voluntary System of Accountability influence assessment processes and can influence the type of assessment, although Northwest already uses VSA-approved assessments and surveys.

The assessment arm of the Professional Education Unit (PEU), the Teacher Education Student Services (TESS) office has been recognized by officials at the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) as one of the more progressive in the state and TESS officers have routinely provided assessment system and metrics seminars to many of the state’s education programs at both public and private institutions. The PEU has, for more than five years, used Teacher Work Sample methodology to establish and evaluate the level of achievement elicited by our teaching candidates in their varied field placements. Other useful data and trends are available by intranet to university faculty regarding candidate performance, dispositions, etc.

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In addition to students’ grade-point averages and number of semester hours successfully completed, Northwest determines a student’s preparation by tracking and analyzing student assessment data (e.g., MAPP, C-BASE) Additionally, each academic program requires students to take a capstone course that engages students in a major project and in which students must complete a senior assessment or project (e.g., Major Field Test/ACAT, PRAXIS, creative project, portfolio). Feedback from supervisors’ evaluations of internship and practicum students provides invaluable feedback to the institutions, as does the employability of our graduates and placement in graduate programs.

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