CITY UNIVERSITY OF

NEW YORK - NYCCT

Dr. Tammie Cumming

Dr. L Jay Deiner

Middle States Commission on Higher Education

December 2016

CUNY • One of the nation's leading urban public

university

• Serving 540,000 students

• More than 271,000 degree-credit students

• Nearly 270,000 in adult, continuing and

professional education

New York City College of

Technology/CUNY2

City Tech Characteristics

•CUNY Context• CUNY’s designated College of Technology

• Minority serving institution

• Open enrollment programs

•Three Schools• Arts & Sciences

• Professional Studies

• Technology & Design

Transition since 2008

• 2008 Accreditation Findings

• Cited with a weakness for assessment and sustaining a continuous

improvement model to improve student outcomes

• 2013 Accreditation Findings

• Formally commended by MSCHE for PRR and assessment

• 2018 Self-Study Due

• New MSCHE Standards

General Education @ City Tech

How can we improve?

How are the students doing?

How do we deliver?

What does it look like?

What is City Tech’s General Education?

• Defined through a 2-year process

• driven by the weakness finding of the MSCHE 2008 Self-Study

• Comprehensive General Education program across all

three colleges

• Continuity of general education competencies into the “majors”

• BTech degrees do not offer the same opportunities for 60 credits of

traditional general education courses

• 14 Competencies aligning with AAC&U LEAP VALUE

What is City Tech’s General Education

• Civic Engagement

• Creative Thinking

• Critical Thinking

• Ethical Reasoning

• Foundations and Skills

for Lifelong Learning

• Information Literacy

• Inquiry & Analysis

• Integrative Learning

• Intercultural

Knowledge and

Competence

• Oral Communication

• Quantitative Literacy

• Reading

• Teamwork

• Writing

How do we deliver Gen Ed?

1. Core Courses (CUNY Pathways)

2. Upper level courses have Gen Ed

Outcomes articulated within each

program/department of each of the

college’s 3 schools

“Competency Based” general education

How are the students doing?

ASSESSMENT BEST PRACTICES FOLLOWED @ CITY

TECH

1. Continuous Improvement Cycle

2. Faculty Driven

3. Sustainable Process

4. Direct and Indirect Measures of Assessment

5. Validity and Reliability

How are the students doing?

Example: Reading Assessment

How do we improve?

• Results indicated weaknesses that supported “faculty

hunch” – 3 areas fell under faculty targets

• Comprehension

• Context

• Analysis

• Grant proposal written to fund a Reading Support

program

• Reading Effectively Across the Disciplines (READ) was

developed

How do we improve?

Example: READ Effectiveness

• Systematic assessment

• In addition to the 3-year general education cycle mandate

• Continually evaluated program elements that were

effective

• College institutionalized the program beyond the grant

expiration

READ Effectiveness

READ Program – Simple but Non-Trivial

• Included Psychometrics

•Validity

•Reliability

Validity and Reliability

• Content Validity Forms for Performance Appraisals

• AAC&U Reading Rubric used as a framework

•Modified for our population of students

• Ensure alignment with faculty constructed assignment with the AAC&U Reading Rubric

Content Validity Sheet

Establish Inter-rater Reliability

• Engages faculty

• Promotes Discussion/Dialogue among

faculty

• Creates a common framework of faculty

expectations of student competencies

Get Involved!

• MSCHE Training Opportunities• Workshop on April 7th to Develop a Culture of

Assessment in Philadelphia

• Others listed on the MSCHE website

• Become a MSCHE Peer Evaluator and/or Federal Compliance Reviewer

• 2017 AIR National Forum in Washington, DC

Contact Us

• City Tech Website: http://air.citytech.cuny.edu

• Email: tcumming@citytech.cuny,edu or

ldeiner@citytech.cuny,edu