Administrative Assessment FAQs

A mission statement is a public-facing document that identifies а department’ constituents and what the department intends to provide to them. As such, mission statements are foundational to the process of assessment, providing clarity and direction by establishing the context in which the department operates and an overview of its goals.

Download our Mission Statement Worksheet here.

There is a hierarchy: CUNY has a mission statement; Queens College has a mission statement (and a somewhat longer “mission summary!”); the four divisions of the College have missions; departments have missions; and academic programs have missions. Each mission statement provides the context for the ones below it, and each mission statement must not be inconsistent with the ones above it.

Mission statements, which are broad and general, are closely tied to a department’s statements of goals, which provide a bridge between the mission of a department and the strategies to be used to assess and guide the ways in which the department achieves its mission.

A mission statement is a general statement that succinctly outlines the overall purpose of an department at the college. Mission statements describe what the unit does and for whom, and should be aligned with the college’s mission. Mission statements change only in the event of fundamental changes to the role or purpose of the administrative unit.

Goals are broad statements about the desired ends to which a department aspires—a vision for how the unit will fulfill its mission. Hence, goals are more specific than mission statements, but still general enough that they apply for many years. Essentially, goals provide direction when setting measurable objectives.

‘Direct measurement’ refers to measuring exactly the thing that you’re looking to measure, while ‘indirect measurement’ means that you’re measuring something by measuring something else.

Direct measures are those that measure student learning by assessing actual samples of student work. Examples include: exams/tests, papers, projects, presentations, portfolios, performances, etc. Because direct measures capture what students know and can do, and even how well, these are best for measuring achievement of student learning on specific objectives.

Indirect measures imply student learning by employing self-reported data and reports. Indirect measures help to substantiate instances of student learning. Indirect measures include surveys, interviews, course evaluations, and reports on retention, graduation, and placement, etc. These measures are commonly used in conjunction with direct measures of student learning, as best practices recommend the use of both direct and indirect measures when determining the degree of student learning that has taken place.

Assessment and research are similar in many ways: Both involve asking questions, collecting data, and analyzing results. Like research, assessment activities may use quantitative or qualitative research methods, and benefits from a mixed methods approach.

However, the goal of research is to confirm or challenge hypotheses to guide theory, whereas the goal of assessment is to produce reasonably accurate information about how well we are meeting our goals and guide local practice.  Many factors limit the scope and impact of assessment: time, resources, implementation, etc.. As such, assessment findings typically have implications for a single course, program or institution, whereas research findings have broader implications.

Faculty, staff, and administrators make decisions regularly, and decisions are best informed by evidence. Good assessment practices can and should guide local practice for the continual improvement of the student experience.

Assuming assessment findings will not be published, activities that are conducted for internal decision-making do not require IRB review. IRB approval is required for generalizable research involving human subjects. See CUNY’s policies on Human Research.

• Involve all members of your staff in the process of establishing a mission statement, and a set of goals and objectives. Staff participation and ownership are key to effective assessment.
• Be sure that your objectives are not tasks. Why is it important to you to complete a certain task? That is likely your objective.
• Be sure that your objectives are measurable. How will you know that the objective has been achieved?
• After the mission, goals and objectives have been established, describe an assessment activity in terms of concrete steps.
• Identify at least one direct measure for each objective.
• If you cannot specifically describe how the findings from your assessment activities can be used to improve your program, services or operations, reconsider your proposed means of assessment.
• Think about how assessment findings will be used to ‘close the loop’. Showing how the results of assessment are used for improvement is the most critical component of an assessment report.

The short answer is that institutions and state policymakers both make use of assessment findings. However, assessment and accreditation are very different processes with very different goals.

Accreditation is a process by which an educational institution is certified by an independent body to award certificates and degrees. The process was established nearly a century ago to foster a common set of educational standards among secondary schools and universities.

But while accreditation self studies aim to demonstrate that fiscal and human resources are being invested responsibly, faculty and staff conduct assessment to improve programs and practice. Assessment findings are an important part of the accreditation process as a key source of the evidence that we provide to our accreditation bodies, but the primary focus of assessment is to inform local decisions pertaining to courses, majors, programs, and support offices, whereas accreditation activities are meant to inform external reviewers.

Queens College is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE). See our 2017 MSCHE Self-Study here, or learn about our 2026 MSCHE Self-Study process here.