Assessment

ABOUT ASSESSMENT

Assessment is the process by which academic institutions evaluate student progress in learning and success in achieving educational goals. Assessment of courses, programs, and University activities, involve among other things, a measure of student outcomes. Achievement may be assessed directly by measuring the changes, progress and/or gains that occur with students or indirectly, by using other indicators such as employment, employers' satisfaction and the percent of students who continue their education in graduate or professional programs.

The purpose of assessment is to assist in improving learning, teaching and academic advising at the individual, course, program and institutional levels. Assessment should be on-going, consistently applied, and based on teaching and learning goals and objectives.  Each academic department/division/school or program should utilize information from assessment to analyze and improve the effectiveness of its academic programs in such areas as curriculum, academic advisement, faculty development and student services. Data from outcomes assessment will not be used for cross-program rankings or comparisons of individual faculty.

For more information on Assessment at Cal State LA, explore the links to the left or contact the Office of Graduate Studies.

Dr. David Connors, Director of Assessment

 

• Dr. David Connors is a Professor of Music at California State University, Los Angeles. He has a BM in Vocal Performance and a BME degree. Prior to his career in higher education, he taught elementary music in New York City in the South Bronx. He has his MM and DME degrees from the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. His areas of research are curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment. He is a program author for Making Music, a Kindergarten-Eighth Grade music textbook series published by Pearson Education. At Cal State LA, he has served as the Chair of the Department of Music, the Director of Program Review and Assessment, the Director of Academic Programs and Accreditation, and as Acting Associate Dean for the College of Arts and Letters. From 2018-2021, he served as State University Associate Dean for Curriculum and Assessment at the CSU Office of the Chancellor.