self assessment
The Liberal & Civic Studies Program places a high value on the process of reflective self-evaluation. Students are expected to engage in this process in a meaningful way throughout their time in the Program.
Assessment plays a central role in the Liberal & Civic Studies Program. In addition to the graded evaluation that occurs as a part of every course, the Program includes an ongoing assessment of student progress. Central to this process and consistent with the words of Plato, who asserted that an unexamined life is a life not worth living, L&CS students engage in a thoughtful examination of their intellectual, social, emotional, and ethical growth each semester, but particularly during the semester immediately before Senior Forum. The sections below explain the assessment process in the Liberal & Civic Studies Program.
- The advisor's role in assessment: As explained in the previous section (IVA), every student who decides to enroll in Liberal and Civic Studies is assigned to an L&CS advisor. These advisors, faculty members from various departments who are strongly committed to the Program, play an important role in the assessment process. They help the student plan his/her program and choose a minor based on assessment of academic strengths and interests. Each term they help the student review his/her academic progress and goals. The advisors also play a central role in the senior assessment process described below. Advisors review students' portfolios and return them at advising sessions. Students should plan on spending at least 30 minutes each semester discussing these issues with their advisors.
- Culture and Civic Responsibility: This is the first course that students take in the Liberal & Civic Studies sequence. The course, described in more detail on p. 19, includes several assignments that involve self-assessment. These include class exercises and journal entries as well as the final 4-page semester's self-assessment. Students' self-assessments are sent to advisors, who review them with advisees and return them. Students are required to save their self-assessments (with the instructor's comments), since they are placed in the portfolios during Assessment & Portfolio.
- Environmental Responsibility in a Global Community: This is the second course that students take in the Liberal & Civic Studies sequence. It is described in more detail on p. 20. In this course, students again develop a 4-page self-assessment in which they reflect on their development over the course of the semester. This self-assessment, too, is reviewed by advisors and kept by the student for placement in his or her portfolio.
- Assessment & Portfolio: During the semester before she or he takes Senior Forum, each L&CS student participates in an intensive assessment process. This involves developing a portfolio and meeting with 3 faculty members from the L&CS Program, including the student's advisor. Students receive credit for their assessment activities — their previous semester self-assessments, a 5- to 7-page assessment of their college experience as a whole, their work in developing their portfolio, their assessment interview, their subsequent reflection on the process — by taking Assessment & Portfolio during this semester. This class meets during the first 9 weeks of the semester. The A&P process also includes an all-day weekend workshop during the first 2 or 3 weeks of the semester. Students receive a grade for the class and a grade for the interview. The class is graded on a Pass/Fail basis, while the interview is graded on a Pass, Not Pass, and Honors basis.
1. Portfolio: The portfolio that each student develops for the interview includes the following documents:
- Culture and Civic Responsibility assessment (including instructor's comments).
- Environmental Responsibility in a Global Community assessment (including instructor's comments).
- A thoughtful, 5- to 7-page, word-processed self-analysis of the student's growth and development, particularly academic but also spiritual/social/personal, over the course of his/her college years and in light of his or her goals
- One paper written by the student for any course at SMC (except Culture and Civic Responsibility or Environmental Responsibility in a Global Community), with a 1 -paragraph explanation why this paper was chosen. (Often students are encouraged to include a second paper to show the breadth of their skills or to demonstrate their preparedness in their minor.)
- A confidential letter from a professor in the student's minor area reporting on the student's progress. Students should begin to think, at the beginning of the Junior year, about which professor should write this letter. (Notes: Sometimes students find it necessary or useful also to have a professor outside the minor write a statement. This is acceptable with permission of the Assessment & Portfolio instructor. Transfer students may include a statement from a professor from a previous college. In all cases, a letter from the L&CS Program Director formally requesting the statement will be sent to the professor(s) identified by the student.)
- Academic record at SMC (i.e., a current audit sent to advisors for all L&CS students).
- The signed L&CS waiver or non-waiver contract (see Appendix A, p. 38).
- For SMP students, the results of the CBEST exam.
- Students may also include 1 or 2 letters of appreciation, honors, awards, etc.
Since the portfolio contains items from previous classes and experiences, it behooves the L&CS student to begin planning his/her portfolio long before the Assessment & Portfolio class begins (e.g., by filing self-assessments in a safe place, signing up for the CBEST early, identifying minor professors who might best evaluate the student, etc.).
2. Process: Students scheduled for the Senior Assessment will proceed as follows:
- Enroll in Assessment & Portfolio. This class, which meets during the first 9 weeks of the semester, helps students develop their portfolio, especially their 5- to 7-page assessment, and prepare for their interview with L&CS advisors.
- Early in the semester, submit to the Assessment & Portfolio instructor or Susan Parr the name of the instructor(s) from their minor subject area they would like to write an evaluative statement for them. These statements will be confidential and will not be shared with students.
- Provide a schedule identifying the hours when they are available for their senior assessment interview. A form will be provided for this purpose. Interviews will be scheduled during the last 5-6 weeks of each semester, including exam week. Students will be notified several weeks in advance of the exact time and place for their interview. Students should allow 1 full hour for their interview. At least a week before the interviews begin (this deadline is established each semester), submit 3 complete copies of their portfolio (one for each faculty member) to Susan Parr, the Program secretary. Susan will see that the portfolios are distributed. Students who have any questions about their portfolio may ask the Assessment & Portfolio instructor or their advisor (who will be one of the faculty members at the interview).
- Appear at the interview site at least 5 minutes before the scheduled time, appropriately attired and prepared to talk about their goals, accomplishments, and performance.
3. The Interview: The student will be interviewed by 3 L&CS faculty members, including her or his own advisor. The student will be introduced to the other faculty by her/his advisor and then asked to speak for 5-7 minutes on her/his work at Saint Mary's to date, including academic and personal achievements and goals for the future. This short presentation might build on the written assessment included in the portfolio (Item c) or have an entirely different emphasis. Subsequently, the review panel will ask questions based on the student's oral presentation and portfolio. The interview will last 20 minutes. At the end of this time the student will be asked to wait outside the room for approximately 10 minutes, allowing the panel to confer. The advisor will then ask the student to return to the room, where he or she will inform the student of the grade awarded (i.e., Pass, Not Pass) and summarize the panel's observations and recommendations. Also, the advisor will write down the panel's recommendations and provide them to the student at a later time. Honors designations will be announced and awarded later, at the senior awards banquet.
4. Reflection: At a later date, usually 1 week following the last interview, students will come together 1 last time to discuss and reflect on what they have learned from the assessment process.
5. Grading: As stated above, there are 2 grades for the class. The class grade (P/F) is based on performance in the Assessment & Portfolio course. The grade given at the interview by the 3 L&CS advisors is based on the student's performance over the entire assessment process, but particularly for the quality of her/his portfolio and interview. This grade — Honors, Pass, Not Pass — will be included on the student's transcript. Students who receive a Not Pass must repeat the assessment during a later semester in order to be admitted to Senior Forum.
- (Education) Democracy & Active Citizenship: At the end of (Education) Democracy & Active Citizenship, students will be asked to review their college experience and preparation for the future.
