Assessment
Assessment of close reading for effective writing (CREW) at Norfolk State University will incorporate some of the assessment processes used for general education learning outcomes. The assessment of CREW learning outcomes will be accomplished through both direct and indirect methods. The direct method will apply to the curricular aspects of the plan, while the indirect method will use survey instruments to estimate the effectiveness of the plan. - Assessment Quick Start Guide - pdf
CREW assessment will encompass locally designed problems that will be embedded in designated general education courses. The direct approach will use the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) Valid Assessment of Learning in Undergraduate Education (VALUE) rubrics for reading and written communication. Professional development workshops will be designed for faculty teaching the CREW designated courses and rubric norming sessions will be provided in cases where more than one faculty is teaching a designated CREW course. In addition, a standardized instrument (HEIgthen) designed and administered by the Educational Testing Services (ETS) will be used as a means of triangulating its results with internally generated assessment outcomes.
CREW Student Learning Goal and Student learning Outcomes
The goal of CREW is to use diverse readings as springboards to explore meaningful issues through writing. CREW will focus on two student learning outcomes:
1. Close Reading – Students will critically analyze core texts in and beyond the discipline.
- Read critically to evaluate a text and recognize its implications.
- Articulate an understanding of various interpretive reading strategies based on genres and their conventions.
- Use needed strategies to work through different sorts of texts.
- Discuss texts in structured ways that contribute to and enhance academic discourse.
- Connect sources and works with their historical and/or social contexts.
- Use texts to build knowledge and raise and explore important questions.
2. Effective Writing – Students will write effectively within and beyond their disciplines and as appropriate to the identified mode of discourse.
- Demonstrate strategic knowledge of the writing process.
- Compose texts that clearly convey meaning through tone, style, purpose, and genre.
- Adapt writing knowledge to new contexts, including rhetoric in digital spaces.
- Incorporate constructive criticism of drafts in the writing process.
- Demonstrate consideration of context and purpose when writing.
- Cite sources in a way that is appropriate for the discipline.
- Master the conventions of Standard American English.
Direct assessment involves evaluation of student artifacts in CREW designated courses to determine the extent to which the student learning outcomes were met. CREW courses are designated within the three tiers of general education at NSU.
Norfolk State University annually participates in the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). In addition to the core questions from NSSE as related to student opinions about the extent that NSU has exposed the students to reading and writing skills, the institution will participate in the NSSE topical module on Experiences with Writing. Comparative data on freshmen and senior students’ opinions about the scope of their experiences with reading and writing at NSU will be tracked annually for the whole term of the CREW QEP.