ABSTRACT
Dan Fortmiller
Stakeholders, both internal and external to universities, are questioning issues of educational quality, student accessibility, and affordability. According to the Educational Advisory Board, “Given the current economic situation, institutions are being forced to take a hard look at services, facilities, and budgets and evaluate what can be cut or scaled back” (Student Affairs Leadership Council, 2009, p. 5). It is in this climate that universities are asked to be even more transparent in their practices and to provide evidence of institutional effectiveness and impact on student learning. Universities that are poised to demonstrate impact are the most likely to survive these challenging times.
Unfortunately, in times of budget cuts some stakeholders may view the student affairs portfolio, in part, as nonessential to student learning. Divisions of student affairs that have created a culture of accountability and use data to inform decision making will be better poised to demonstrate to stakeholders how they meet the institutional mission and make a difference in student learning. By this time in this book we hope you have realized this demand.
It is upon the leadership of the senior student affairs officer (SSAO) and her or his team to create a place for building a culture of assessment where evidence-based decision making is valued: “It is the responsibility of the chief student affairs officer to address the organizational barriers to strong assessment by: creating clear expectations around assessment for all staff, investing resources to support staff assessment efforts, and holding staff accountable for the quality of their assessment plan/results” (Student Affairs Leadership Council, 2009, p. 6). Moreover, by building a culture of evidence student affairs can “document with hard data the significant contributions student affairs makes toward the institution’s mission and goals” (Culp, 2012, p. 1).
However, not all assessment evidence is equal and some methods provide more robust measures of impact on student learning. Robust data provide evidence that we are meeting the institutional mission, vision, and goals and that we are shown to be accurate and comprehensive while directly measuring impacts on student learning. The SSAO must set the tone for collecting and using robust data gleaned from diverse methods that properly answer the question we need to answer. That is the focus of this chapter.
SSAOs must expect their units to share data, to tell their stories of their collective impact on students, and this sharing of data needs to occur both internal and external to the university. When stakeholders question the worth and value of a degree, given the financial costs to students and their families, they need not think of student affairs as an auxiliary set of services. We are making a difference with students; we see it every day. Because of this, we are well poised to share evidence of our impact.
