Glossary

Administrative Assessment Terms at UC Merced

The definitions and descriptions below reflect the assessment-related vocabulary of our campus.

They are derived from UC Merced policy and related support documents and/or the literature.  Please know that these terms may be used differently by other organizations.

The list is alphabetical. Click on the letter below to drop the relevant section.

A l B l C l D l E l G l I l L l M l O l P l R l S l U l V

To propose an addition to the glossary, contact Laura Martin.

A

Actions/Action Items - A discrete task that can be accomplished, usually by a single individual, team or group.

Annual Assessment Report – A summary of a unit’s annual assessment activities submitted to the Dean or Vice Chancellor and, in turn, to the Periodic Review Oversight Committee that addresses (1) the unit’s progress in meeting its outcomes, (2) associated actions for improvement addressing unit services and/or programs and, as necessary, the assessment process, and, as relevant, (3) progress on WASC-related action items and (4) contributions to institutional assessment initiatives.

Assessment – The process by which an administrative unit gathers and evaluates evidence of the extent to which it is meeting its desired service outcomes and, on the basis of this evidence, takes action to maintain or improve the quality of its services and its effectiveness. In this way, assessment is an evidence/data-informed means for unit planning and enables continuous improvement.

B

Benchmark - A professional standard or point of reference against which assessment results are compared. 

C

Campus Partner - Individuals or groups outside of one’s unit or department that collaborate or work together to accomplish a common goal or task.

Conclusion - Opinions or judgements based on results/findings of assessment data, typically with respect to the extent to which an intended outcome has been met.

Customer - A person or group that purchases, or utilizes services or goods.  Groups or individuals may provide services to each other (internally) within the context of a customer/client relationship. However, the combined efforts of these individuals often work to provide services or goods to the end customer (students, researchers, etc.). This definition of “customer” also encompasses governing bodies and external regulators.

D

Data - Individual facts, statistics or items of information assembled to support an analysis (for instance, the extent to which an intended outcome has been achieved). Data can be quantitative or qualitative. Data are a means for measuring achievement of an outcome.

Departmental Philosophy - A unifying  concept that reflects the sum total of mission, vision and values for an organization.

E

Evidence - Data or information presented in support of an assertion like an outcomes statement (e.g. a statement describing the expected quality of a service or process). In its broadest sense, evidence includes everything that is used to determine the truth of an assertion/expected outcome and can be quantitative or qualitative in nature. The term also refers to the types of information/data to be gathered to test the truth of an outcomes statement. Evidence may be gathered that describes employee effort (e.g. number of requests for support processed per day) and the impact of that effort (e.g. recipients of support consistently report the support addressed their needs, completely and in a timely manner).

G

Goals - Goals are broad statements that describe priorities and intentions of an administrative unit; what the unit intends to do. Service goals describe a core service/function of a unit and intended qualities of the service. 

I

Initiative - A project, process, plan or other action that arises from a desire to accomplish an enterprise level goal, such as improving student retention, reducing costs or increasing customer satisfaction. A typical initiative is expressed as a process and includes metrics and time frames. It may be a formal, named project, a pilot project, or an informal executive directive. An initiative serves as a focal point for attracting the resources needed to accomplish a goal.

L

Learning Outcome - A statement describing how a customer (or student) will demonstrate what they know or are able to do, or how they have changed, as a result of the unit’s program or service.  Learning outcomes often begin with the phrase “Participants will be able to…” Units that provide professional development or required training for faculty or staff will likely develop learning outcomes to assess the efficacy of their programming in meeting unit goals. Similarly, units or departments that work directly with students, like those in Student Affairs, will have student learning outcomes.

M

Mission Statement - A statement articulating what an organization does, for whom, and how.

O

Organizational Health - An organization's ability to align its efforts with its strategic goals, execute its strategic plan and/or turn ideas into actions, and renew itself².

Organizational Review/Diagnosis - A process that involves the three steps of publicly entering an organization, collecting valid data about experiences, and feeding data back into the organization  as a means of assessing and building organizational health. Typically, the goal of organizational diagnosis is to provide organizational awareness, and to build commitment for intentional change as part of a strategic planning effort.

Outcome - A precise statement articulating the desired accomplishment of an administrative unit with respect to a core service. An outcome statement should be derived from a goal and, thus, describe how a unit is fulfilling a purpose outlined by that goal in a measurable way. Put another way, outcome statements animate goals, specifying the manner in which the goal is to be met and measured.  Clear and precise outcomes statements also define specific performance expectations for a unit. In doing so, they indicate the kind of evidence/data the unit will collect to ascertain the extent to which the desired outcome has been met.  Two different types of outcomes can be recognized: process outcomes and learning outcomes. Properties of a quality outcome are available here (see p.2).

Objective - The term “objective” is synonymous with outcome, but is often used to describe an intended outcome¹ (as opposed to the actual, realized outcome).