Administrative Assessment

A mission statement outlines the overall purpose of a department at the college. As such, it sets the foundation for any assessment activity. Your mission should indicate your department’s primary functions, identify its stakeholders, and articulate the department’s distinct role at the college. Mission statements change only in the event of fundamental changes to the role or purpose of a department.

To craft a mission statement that encompasses your department’s distinct contribution to the College, answer the following questions and summarize your answers.

1. What does your department do?
2. Who does your department do this for?
3. What relationships does your department have with other units at the college?
4. How does your department contribute to student success?

Download our Mission Statement Worksheet here.

Goals are broad statements about how the department will fulfill its mission. All administrative departments have operational goals. Departments that are student-facing also have goals related to students. To articulate your goals, try to list all the ways in which the mission of the department would be fulfilled.

• Operational goals deal with the functions, demands, resources, and efficiencies of the department.
• Student goals address how the department contributes to the success or development of students.

An objective is a step that can be taken to meet a goal. Objectives should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound (SMART). It can help to think of your objectives as the department’s “key priorities” for the upcoming academic year.

To set your objectives, try to articulate how your department will make progress towards each goal. Given the goals of the department, what actions need to be completed by during the year, or next few years, to achieve or see progress on these goals?

Download our Goals and Objectives Worksheet.

See examples of objectives and measures.

Take inventory of the services and initiatives of the department and map these to the department’s goals​ and objectives. This ensure that the goals and objectives you have set will be addressed and will help you select assessment methods and measures. It also ensures that any assessment work already in progress will be documented.

You might also consider mapping out the roles, responsibilities, and skill sets of your staff members, as this can help identity opportunities for professional development and growth, which can be a department goal in and of itself.

Data is key to understanding progress. In order to measure progress on your department’s goals and objectives, you will need data – quantitative and/or qualitative. For each objective, identify the possible measures and data source(s) your department will use to gauge progress. Note that high quality assessment incorporates at least some direct measures along with some indirect measures:

• Direct measures evaluate actual performance. Timeliness or frequency of services are examples.
• Indirect measures evaluate perceived performance, such as those derived from satisfaction surveys.

A summary of this data will be part of your assessment report. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

1. Regularize and standardize the collection of appropriate data.
2. Avoid metrics based on data that are very difficult to collect, manage or analyze.
3. Include data collection and analysis on your department’s calendar each year.
4. Report summary information, rather than detailed data.
5. Trend data is the best way to determine whether you are making progress. Try to report at least three years for a metric using a consistent methodology.
6. The Office of Institutional Effectiveness can help by identifying data sources and developing metrics (including metrics from surveys).

Here are some examples (just for illustrative purposes): ITS can use its CRM/Fresh Services system to assess how well it serves the campus community in resolving various kinds of technology issues. Advisement can use the data analytics in QC Navigate to assess how well it is communicating with students. Procurement can use data from CUNYfirst financials to see what proportion of our spending is for MWBE vendors. Student Affairs can use survey data to gauge how well new students are connecting to each other and to student support resources.

See more examples of administrative objectives and measures here.

An Assessment Plan documents your key priorities for the coming year according to the stages of the assessment cycle: state the department’s mission and goals, set objectives, and select assessment methods, tools, or measures.

Once you’ve completed the Mission Statement and Goals and Objectives worksheets, mapped for alignment, and identified possible data sources and assessment methods, you may also want to address the following:

• Can any targets be set?
• What about a timeline?
• How will evidence/data be collected?
• Which staff should be involved?
• What do you expect to find?

Keep in mind that the aim of assessment is improvement over time. Assessment should be useful, actionable, manageable, and sustainable. We ask that you assess progress towards at least two of your department’s goals each year with an eye towards how you will assess other goals in the future. Over time, progress towards all goals should assessed every few years (ideally every 5 years or less).

Download a copy of the Administrative Assessment Planning Template. We suggest that you review the Self-Assessment Worksheet as you complete this template.

Note: Small department (with fewer than three staff members) or departments with overlapping functions may join forces to submit a combined assessment plan. The combination of departments into a single assessment plan must be approved by the appropriate cabinet level supervisor.

Review your assessment findings and involve your staff in discussions about how the data can drive improvements in your department. Here are a few guiding questions:

• What successes and challenges did you encounter?
• Were expectations met? Did you learn anything new?
• How should the results inform future areas of focus?
• How might the student experience be improved?
• How might current processes be improved?
• What budgetary allocations / reallocations can be made to support these actions?
• Should assessment be ongoing?
• If yes, is there anything you would you do differently next time?

Document these annual discussions and decisions in your department’s assessment report, including any follow-up actions and long-term assessment strategies.

Download the Administrative Assessment Reporting Template here.