About Assessment at Claremont McKenna College

CMC takes seriously its responsibility to assess student learning outcomes at multiple levels. CMC has established the following routine assessment practices.

Assessment of core competencies and general learning outcomes for the College as a whole.

Each semester, data is collected for one or two of the general education learning outcomes.  Once those are identified, the Office of Institutional Research will issue the rubrics to senior thesis readers.  In addition, some departments and programs evaluate certain general learning outcomes annually, for example Mathematical Sciences evaluates student oral communication skills every spring.  After all of the general learning outcomes rubric responses are collected for the academic year, that data is compiled and used to update the Assessment data visualization in the Factbook.  The Assessment Committee reviews and discusses the general learning outcome results annually.

Assessment of major and departmental learning outcomes.

CMC faculty members directly assess their students’ learning outcomes within majors and departments. Most departments have developed rubrics against which to measure their students’ senior theses. Some departments use other assignments or instruments to conduct their assessment of student learning, such as observations within tutorials, presentations, oral interviews or exams, or senior seminar papers. The Office of Institutional Research collects and distributes relevant assessment data to department chairs at the end of every academic year. Department chairs in turn evaluate the results of their assessment exercises and file a report with the Office of Institutional Research, detailing any plans for curricular or assessment reforms for the subsequent year.

Decennial external reviews of academic departments, programs, and centers. 

CMC conducts external reviews of departments, programs, and centers on a rotating 10-year schedule. In preparation for the external review, they produce in-depth self-study reports that are shared with a team of experts in the relevant field. CMC hosts visiting external teams on campus for three days each semester to conduct interviews with faculty members, administrators, and students; observe classes and other instructional activity; and review a program’s student learning outcomes assessments. The final report composed by the visiting team is shared with the department, the senior administration, and the Academic Affairs Committee of the Board of Trustees. It also serves as a compelling impetus for considerations related to improving departmental curricula, administrative operations, staffing, budgeting, and learning outcomes.

For more information on CMC’s routine assessment programs, please contact T. Colleen Wynn, AVP for Institutional Research and Assessment, who serves as CMC’s Accreditation Liaison Officer.