Marxe Assessment Spotlight
Interview with NASPAA’s Chief Accreditation Officer, Ms. Martha Bohrt
At Marxe, a component of our academic assessment program includes the work of fostering a positive assessment culture (in addition to implementing our assessment cycles). This aspect of the work is critical to the overall success of assessment, as it aids in cultivating support and participation. As a result, we have incorporated assessment guides, presentations, workshops, a website, and now a newsletter to our initiatives.
Although tremendous strides have been made in terms of both the actual assessments as well as the efforts to ensure a supportive culture, there is always more that can be done to bridge the gap and ensure the faculty and staff have a stronger understanding of and relationship with NASPAA and its mission. As a result, we have invited Chief Accreditation Office, Martha Bohrt to speak directly from a NASPAA lens regarding key areas/questions of accreditation.
How does NASPAA accreditation serve as a quality assurance mechanism for students and other stakeholders? NASPAA’s accreditation process is driven by public service values, is mission- and outcomes-based, and is grounded in an in-depth self-evaluation. Programs seeking accreditation use the self-study process to support ongoing program improvement, strengthen their commitment to public service education, and showcase their accomplishments. NASPAA-accredited programs establish observable goals and outcomes, and use information about their performance to guide program improvement. They contribute to the knowledge, research, and practice of public service, practice truth in advertising and ensure their students achieve learning objectives in five domains essential to public service.
What role should faculty play in the process of demonstrating and maintaining NASPAA accreditation standards? How does the process of complying with the standards and maintaining accreditation benefit faculty directly? Program faculty in NASPAA-accredited programs participate in program delivery, program governance, and research and/or professional service related to the field of public affairs. These three areas are the ones where programs are expected to demonstrate conformance with the NASPAA Standards. In other words, faculty are at the front line of NASPAA accreditation, ensuring student learning, strategic program management, and the advancement of the field of public service. At the same time, faculty can use the NASPAA universal required competencies to determine learning objectives for their courses and the NASPAA accreditation standards to determine mechanisms to assess student learning and success. Additionally, Standard 3 requires programs to demonstrate support of the faculty body’s continuous professional development, diversity, and research agendas. In summary, the NASPAA accreditation process supports faculty in their continuous professional development both in teaching and research.
We understand that NASPAA is not prescriptive about how institutions engage in assessment of student learning. Can you speak about the relative importance of different aspects/phases of assessment (i.e., faculty engagement in regular reflection and revision of their goals and assessment instruments, faculty discussions of assessment results, the development of action items and curricular changes). Are they all equally important to NASPAA? If not, which aspect is most important, and why? All aspects that contribute to program improvement are of equal importance to the NASPAA accreditation process. Assessment is like a machine with many components that help each other create a product. One piece of the machine are the assessment instruments, another piece is analysis of assessment results, and the product is program improvement. Faculty are of course the oil. If the program has a series of tools to assess student learning, for example, but is not doing anything to understand the results, then needed modifications cannot be identified or, if they are, they may be the wrong ones, as we only have determined effect, but not cause. The same is true of what may happen without the oil: if the faculty, the frontline of assessment, don’t participate in the assessment processes, then all the parts are missing that first-hand information needed to create appropriate, quality tools.
How can institutions partner with NASPAA to better educate faculty about what improvement in teaching and learning means to NASPAA? Becoming a NASPAA site visitor is the easiest and most fun way to learn what the NASPAA accreditation standards are all about! Through the site visit, volunteers see the standards applied across a wide range of contexts. Over 90% of volunteers report each year that the site visit allows them to learn new practices that can be implemented at their own program. Additionally, NASPAA staff is available year-round to engage with faculty. NASPAA also hosts accreditation institutes throughout the year specifically designed for faculty to learn about the accreditation process. All inquiries about becoming a site visitor and for setting up appointments with staff can be sent to copra@naspaa.org.