Our first priority as an academic department is to ensure that our students learn the essential content in the field of psychology.
To evaluate this priority, our department recently began to administer the ACAT Nationally Standardized Psychology Exam. On the examination in 2016, 76% of our PSY400 students scored at the 60th percentile or higher; 82% scored at the 50th percentile or higher; while only 6% scored lower than the 25th percentile. Clearly, most of our students are learning the essential content in the field of psychology.
The personal growth of our majors is another priority of our department. Over the last two years (2014-2016) 100% of our majors in the PSY400 course “agreed” or “strongly agreed” that they experienced personal growth as a result of their experiences in the PLNU psychology program. According to Faculty ratings of the personal growth of senior psychology majors, 85.5% met the assessment plan criteria on our Personal Growth Rubric. Therefore, Faculty ratings of students confirmed the students’ self report of experienced personal growth.
Evidence of student learning for all the Program Learning Outcomes (including the Core Competency and General Education Learning Outcomes) are included in the files below.
The Psychology Department typically has an annual Assessment Day on the Monday following Commencement. During this day the departmental faculty complete the rubric-based scoring for the Core Competencies, General Education, and Program Learning Outcomes. During the months of May and June, the Departmental Assessment Committee analyzes and summarizes the data. Subsequently, the Committee meets with the Departmental Chair to make initial recommendations on how to use the evidence to improve student learning. During the first department meeting each August, the Departmental Chair discusses the use of the evidence for the purpose of improving student learning.
The files below include the reports for the Core Competencies, General Education, and Program Learning Outcomes. The section of the report that specifies “Use of the Evidence of Student Learning” is contained in the “Changes to be Made Based on Data” section of the report. If any curricular changes were proposed as a result of the use of evidence of student learning, these curricular proposals are included below.