The Office of Accreditation and Education Effectiveness (OAEE) supports the College’s mission by coordinating ongoing and systematic programmatic and student learning assessments. The OAEE collaborates with academic, co-curricular, and administrative units through transparent, collaborative, systematic, ongoing, and documented processes to ensure that Baylor College of Medicine operates at the highest level of integrity and excellence for the purpose of continuously improving the student learning environment.
In addition, the OAEE facilitates assessment activities in compliance with Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) Comprehensive Standards 7.3 and 8.2 as defined by The Principles of Accreditation.
- 7.3 The institution identifies expected outcomes of its administrative support services and demonstrates the extent to which the outcomes are achieved. (Administrative effectiveness)
- 8.2 The institution identifies expected outcomes, assesses the extent to which it achieves these outcomes, and provides evidence of seeking improvement based on analysis of the results in the areas below:
- 8.2.a - Student learning outcomes for each of its educational programs. (Student outcomes: educational programs)
- 8.2.c - Academic and student services that support student success. (Student outcomes: academic and student services)
The OAEE supports education activities in the following ways:
- Create or modify assessment plans, providing guidance on appropriate design of outcomes, methods, and criteria.
- Assist in selection, design, or validity/reliability of assessment instruments.
- Guide academic programs through the BCM program review process.
- Support analysis of assessment and program review data.
- Provide workshops and presentations on assessment-related topics.
- Create crosswalk documentation to include discipline-specific accreditation requirements.
- Conduct survey support and management.
The purpose of Institutional Effectiveness is to highlight and document the growth of academic programs as a legacy to your expertise and continued history of renowned excellence at Baylor College of Medicine.
For the institutional effectiveness function, assessment is a term that refers to a process that includes planning goals/outcomes, implementing measures of performance, evaluating the resulting data, and implementing actions for improvement.
At Baylor College of Medicine, we embrace a culture of continuous improvement and are committed to promoting the highest standards of safety, quality, and service. All academic, co-curricular, and administrative units at BCM create assessment plans aligned with the College’s mission and values.
Assessment Resources
American Association of Colleges and Universities VALUE Rubrics
VALUE rubrics are open educational resources (OER) that enable educators to assess students’ original work. AAC&U offers a proven methodology for applying the VALUE rubrics to evaluate student performance reliably and verifiably across 16 broad, cross-cutting learning outcomes.
Mapping Learning Toolkit
National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment. (2018, March). Mapping learning: A toolkit of resources. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA).
CrossCurrents is an electronic publication that offers articles on a wide range of topics related to teaching and learning in higher education.
The NASPA Assessment, Evaluation, and Research (AER) Knowledge Community encourages and supports student affairs professionals as they assess learning, evaluate programs, and conduct research. By providing quality education and networking opportunities, the KC promotes continuous improvement and AER best practices within Student Affairs.
Student Affairs Assessment Leaders (SAAL)
Student Affairs Assessment Leaders (SAAL) provides the opportunity for educators that coordinate assessment for divisions of student affairs to discuss issues to improve their work. The organization seeks to create an atmosphere where leaders can share and advance conversations related to creating division assessment infrastructure, supporting assessment projects, and documenting student learning as it relates to the academic mission.
Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS)
The Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS) promotes intra-campus collaboration and reflects good practices agreed upon by the profession-at-large through the CAS Standards.
AAHE Principles of Good Practice for Assessing Student Learning