For Teachers: 1001 Assessment

FALL 2016: 

  • Assessment essays will be due to uwprogram@lsu.edu by 12:00 noon on Wednesday, Novenber 30.
  • Please make sure that your syllabus deadline is November 30 or earlier.

In Spring 2011, we successfully launched a new assessment model, designed in consultation with several focus groups of instructors and GTAs, numerous meetings with the Steering Committee, Assessment Committee, Implementation Committee and Professional Development Committee. These committees were made up of almost half of our instructors and a number of GTAs.  

Rather than scoring every student's final essay, the new model allows us to assess the effectiveness of ENGL 1001 overall based on a sampling from each section. This model allows us to spend less time scoring and have more freedom in assigning final essay topics.


Essay guidelines
In order to allow us to compare essays across sections, the last assigned essay in your class must be an Issue Analysis paper. The 1001 Committee has written guidelines for that assignment; your UWP Director has shared with you, guidelines for the assignment. (See attachment from Fall 2016, preparatory emails.) As you design your syllabus, please keep the deadline for that assessment in mind, which will be announced at the beginning of each semester via email.

Instructions for submitting assessment essays

For each essay, please…

1. Save it as a Microsoft Word document (.doc or .docx)

  • Make sure that the works cited page is part of the same document.
  • Title it “Yourname.Section#.Roster#” for example: Jones.013.2.

2. Send us one email for each section you teach (with essays attached). 

  • Please do not ask students to email their work directly to us.

3. For students who did not submit essays, please make a brief note in the email to which the other essays are attached. You will not be held accountable for unsubmitted essays.

4. Please submit essays from the selected students on your roster(s) by noon on November 30 to uwprogram@lsu.edu. Be sure student's name is on paper! 

DO NOT INCLUDE STUDENT ID NUMBERS ON ASSESSMENT PAPERS

FAQs

What if the randomly selected students aren’t the strongest writers in my class?
In past semesters, many teachers have worried that their randomly selected student essays did not represent the best writing from their class (sometimes quite the opposite). That is to be expected, and it’s okay. Please remember that this assessment is in no way used to assess teacher or student performance; we do not disaggregate scores by section or instructor. 

How are the results used?
We analyze the aggregate numbers for information that helps us determine how well we’re achieving our goals as a program and how we could do better. This information is used internally by UWP staff to guide program design and is also shared with university administrators and accreditation organizations like SACS. 

Can I see how my students did?
Yes! But not right away. For one thing, we don’t want assessment results to make you second-guess your grades. And, like you, we’re swamped at the end of the semester. If you send a request for scores over the winter break, however, we’ll gladly let you know the results. Be sure to send the request to uwprogram@lsu.edu rather than any of our individual emails so that it doesn't fall through the cracks of our winter schedules.

Please note that essays for assessment are due to uwprogram@lsu.edu by noon on November 30.

 

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