ASCC Emphasizes Professional Development in Assessment

ASCC Press Release Tuesday, March 08, 2011

ASCC Emphasizes Professional Development in Assessment

By James Kneubuhl, ASCC Press Officer

Thanks to funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the American Samoa Community College (ASCC) has accelerated its program of professional development in the areas of Assessment, Program Review and Accreditation Standards. Two teams of ASCC administrators and faculty recently participated in two separate events, the nation-wide 11th Annual Texas A&M Assessment Conference, and the regional conference of the Pacific Postsecondary Education Council held in Hawaii last month.

Teacher Education Department instructor Sonny Leomiti, who led the ASCC delegation to Texas, offered an overview of the Assessment concept as it applies to academics. “Assessment is basically the process to improve teaching and learning,” he said. “The theme of the conference we attended as “Learn… Share… Innovate”, and it emphasized Assessment as a means of accountability as well as Assessment as a means of transformation. Trainings like this provide direction by emphasizing assessment processes and practices. As campuses define, review, and revise grounds that facilitate ‘Student and Learning Centeredness’, the end product should be tangible results that reflect the institutions’ best teaching and learning practices.”

“The workshop offered an array of information on assessment,” continued Leomiti, “such as the pursuit of student success, engaging faculty in assessing critical thinking, developing assessment plans, curricular redesign and institutional effectiveness through the lens of assessment. ASCC participants have been exposed to a variety of assessment processes and practices as posed by other colleges and universities who presented at the conference.” In addition to Leomiti, who serves as Assessment Committee Chairman, ASCC participants included Dr. Daniel Chang (Chairman- Health Services Department); Sal Poloai (Dean- Trades and Technology Division); Letupu Moananu (Chairman, Mathematics Department); Randel DeWees (Faculty, Science Department); Lilian Temese (Faculty, Social Science Department); and Poe Mageo (Faculty, Language & Literature Department).

In the same month as the Texas conference, the Pacific Postsecondary Education Council (PPEC) held its own three-day event in Hawaii, which included a discussion of Assessment , Program Review and Accreditation Success, which was attended by ASCC administrators Dr. Kathleen Kolhoff-Belle (Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs), Mikaele Etuale (Vice President of Administration and Finance), Emey Silafau (Chief Financial Officer) and Rosevonne Pato (Director, Office of Institutional Effectiveness). PPEC includes representatives from colleges and universities in Hawaii and across the American Pacific, and the conference included a presentation by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC), a division of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC).

“It was extremely helpful to attend the ACCJC/WASC workshop on the first day and a half,” recalled Dr. Kolhoff-Belle. “Too often, ACCJC presentations are California-centric, so I appreciated their efforts to move out into the region, addressing specific concerns of the Pacific colleges. Another unique feature of this conference was the presentation of case studies from specific colleges. ASCC wrote and presented three of the 11 cases, and workshop discussions were facilitated by Mrs. Pato, Mrs. Silafau and me. These sessions let us share specific concerns and ideas for solutions with our counterparts from the other colleges in the region.” Besides the theoretical aspects of Assessment, the conference also touched on ways that technology can aid in the process. “We had an opportunity to review three different software programs used to track Assessment,” said Dr. Kolhoff-Belle, “and it was good to hear presentations from actual colleges using the programs, rather than from vendors looking for new customers.”

Dr. Kolhoff-Belle served on the conference planning committee for the PPEC event, and expressed satisfaction with this year’s turnout. “When the PPEC Chief Academic Officers proposed this conference last November, we envisioned a small gathering of 25 or 30,”she explained. “It was gratifying to see our small idea grow to a three day conference including the ACCJC/WASC and more than 90 participants from Hawaii and the PPEC member colleges.” ASCC will also send a group of participants to the forthcoming Academic Resources Conference (ARC) being held in April that will focus on Assessment and Academic Program Review, as well as information on the development and accreditation of the Bachelors in Education program now under development by the College.

ENDS

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