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
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