An Assessment Journey

I attended the January 2005 ABET TEI workshop in Manhattan Beach, CA.Although several engineering technology faculty had attended earlier workshops, I was the only representative from my division in attendance.It was clear that student success would be improved if we implemented the continuous improvement models presented during the conference.Implementation of the concepts was especially important in that we were applying for our first ABET accreditations(s) and the college was at the beginning of another NWCCC accreditation During the fall 2005 term, our community college required all programs to submit and implement new assessment plans, with results analyzed and reported at the end of the spring 2006 term.This coincided with our application for outside accreditation of two programs within our division.This article outlines the steps taken along the way to accreditation, highlighting efforts to articulate a program assessment plan.New college assessment forms are referenced and sample plans included.