Assessment Guidelines

Assessment is a critical piece of the Coalition’s mission. Evaluating the effectiveness of members’ initiatives is essential for understanding their impact and guiding future efforts.

The two primary goals of the Coalition related to assessment are:

  1. Assess the effectiveness of members’ interventions/projects as related to current student wellbeing.
  2. Assess the effectiveness of members’ interventions in promoting the Big Six experiences in students (as a proxy for lifelong wellbeing, as we know these metrics are associated).

The guidelines below can provide structure for your assessment plans, aligning them with the Coalition’s goals while fulfilling your own measurement needs, as well as approximating best practice evaluation methods. This guide provides a foundational approach to evaluating Coalition member initiatives, ensuring they effectively contribute to improved lifelong wellbeing and flourishing.

1. Define your objectives and goals.

Clarify the Mission: State the primary purpose of the initiative. What issues are being addressed?

Set Specific, Measurable Goals: Identify clear, measurable outcomes that the initiative aims to achieve (e.g., expanding mentorship opportunities, improving belonging, increasing rates of positive mental health).

2. Seek input from key stakeholders.

Ensure that the assessment includes input from all relevant stakeholders (e.g., students, faculty, staff).

3. Determine your research methods.

  • Consider using a variety of methods (both qualitative and quantitative) to assess the initiative’s impact. These can include student surveys, course assessments, and/or passive data collection, as through smartphone or smartwatch technology.
  • Use pre- and post-tests to measure changes over time.
  • Use a comparison group, when possible and appropriate.
  • When possible, use both a comparison group and pre- and-post tests (as in a cohort study)
  • When possible, assess the long-term effects of the initiative with a longitudinal study.

4. Establish evaluation criteria. Decide what success looks like.

Metrics/scales the Coalition is specifically interested in are:

  • A measure of wellbeing, such as:
  • Measure experiential learning, such as by considering the measures included in the Gallup Big Six.
  • Engagement with faculty (including emotionally supportive mentors), such as those included in the Gallup Big Six (e.g., “My professors care about me as a person,” and “I have a mentor who encourages me to pursue my goals and dreams.”)
  • Other ideas: “I have a professor who knows me by name,” “I have a number of professors I could go to for a letter of recommendation,” etc.

5. Incorporate your assessment into your institution’s existing work

Many colleges and universities have ongoing assessment protocols developed on their own campuses. For those cases, incorporating publicly available assessment questions from other instruments may be a convenient approach. For example, the Harvard Flourishing measure could be incorporated into an existing instrument.

6. Make Recommendations and Plans for Continuous Improvement

  • Feedback loop: Based on outcomes of the assessment, recommend ways to refine or improve the initiative and inform future efforts.
  • Scalability: Consider whether the initiative can be expanded or replicated in other settings.
  • Ongoing Monitoring: Establish mechanisms for continuous monitoring and periodic reassessment.

7. Dissemination

  • Share findings and lessons learned with other Coalition members.
  • Plan to present assessment findings at the Coalition’s National Conference, likely in the form of a poster session, in addition to other conferences and workshops.
  • Share findings with Coalition leaders to be highlighted on the Coalition web pages, in LearningWell magazine, and on Invented Here.
  • When possible, publish findings in peer-reviewed journals and other publications.