by
Nate Miller
News editor
Graduate assessments for all 2004 Associate Degree or Certificate
of Completion students graduating from Seward County Community
College in May have been scheduled for April 1.
These assessments are required for all graduates. Day classes
on April 1 will be canceled so these students will be able to
participate. Failure to do so will result in a hold being placed
on final transcripts.
The tests are independent of student grades and evaluate how
well information has been accumulated by the students throughout
their college education at SCCC. They include the WorkKeys assessments
in reading, writing, math and listening and the Collegiate Assessment
of Academic Proficiency, known as CAAP, assessment of critical
thinking.
Students should receive a reminder letter about the tests March
22.
The assessments will begin at 7:45 a.m. and will end at approximately
12:30 p.m. with pizza and pop for the students.
Assessment Committee Chair Bonnie Mautz said that the assessments
are institutional tool that helps to improve teaching.
All students take a pre-test when they take their college orientation
class, and the post-test before they graduate. These scores
are compared and results are sent to both teachers and students.
This shows the teachers how everyone progressed and whether
or not teaching styles should be changed. "We want to figure
out if we're doing it well," said Mautz.
The test will be administered in two large rooms so that everything
can be standardized. There is an option to take it either April
1 or the following Saturday, April 3. Cosmetology students will
be tested separately on a different date.
According to Dean of Student Services Dr. Gerald Harris each
year after the tests are finished, the assessment committee
members meet to decide if they need to do anything differently.
"It's part of the assessment of the assessment," Harris said.
They try and decide how they can get more students to participate
and realize that the assessment is a good thing.
"We bribe them with pizza and pop," Harris said, but it is
still hard to convince everyone to come.
The tests have no effect on the students' grades at SCCC but
they help the institution as a whole.
Dean of Instruction Cynthia Rapp emphasized the importance
of students attending the assessment process.
The college uses the statistics for improvement in institutional
assessment areas. Assessment testing is also something the board
of regents wants done to highlight areas of concern which might
need work, according to instructor Katie Redd.
Results are expected to help students see improvements as well
as to help instructors become better and perhaps change ways
of teaching to improve what is done in the classroom, Redd said.
