ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors examine decision-making contexts, highlight decision-making issues in the process of implementing learning outcomes assessment in the community and two-year college environment, and describe how such issues were handled at a sample community college. They recognize decision-making contexts in the assessment process, and describe five decision-making considerations that could affect the success of the student learning outcome (SLO) process from three important stakeholder perspectives. The structure of the learning outcomes assessment process depends on the predominant type of organizational functioning, institutional size, culture, and in particular whether there is the presence of a labor union. The role of the administrator is to facilitate the process and act as a change agent to move the college toward becoming a learning organization. Decision making during the assessment process should continually focus on ways to share resources and collaborate between curricular and cocurricular programs and services.
