BUILDING AND SUSTAINING A
CULTURE OF ASSESSMENT IN
YOUR INSTRUCTION PROGRAM
http://www.flickr.com/photos/londonmatt/4648615038/
MEREDITH FARKAS

WHAT IS A CULTURE OF
ASSESSMENT?
• Assessment is the norm
• Doing it for the right reasons
• Customer-service focused
• Culture of learning, curiosity
• Decisions based on data
• New initiatives tied to performance
measures
• Changes based on what is learned

WHY BUILD A CULTURE
OF ASSESSMENT?
• Be better teachers
• Make better decisions
• Demonstrate value to ourselves and others
• Use data to advocate for the library
• Use data to grow the IL program
• Hold ourselves to the same standards as
any other academic department
• Accreditation

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ASSESSMENT AT MANY
INSTITUTIONS
• Focused on doing what is needed for
accreditation
• Coercive and top-down
• Little support
• Coalition of the willing
• Data is gathered, but rarely used
• Not seen as an integral part of teaching
and learning
• Often a lot of cynicism around assessment

WHAT IT TAKES TO
BUILD A CULTURE OF
ASSESSMENT

“For
a
scholarship
of
assessment
to
thrive,
we
must
align
faculty
culture,
institutional
structures,
and
leadership
for
change.
The
importance
of
this
point
cannot
be
overstated.
A
meaningful
assessment
program
is
more
than
just
a
new
activity
to
be
undertaken,
it
is
a
change
in
how
we
think
about
what
we
do
in
higher
education.”
Don
Haviland.
(2009).
“Leading
Assessment:
From
Faculty
Reluctance
to
Faculty
Engagement.”
Academic
Leadership
9(2).

I G N O R E C U LT U R E AT Y O U R O W N P E R I L
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Shared history
Behavior
Assumptions
Response to conflict Values
ORGANIZATIONAL
CULTURE
How thing get done
Goals
Beliefs
Practices
Power structures
Response to change
Fears

ORGANIZATIONAL
CULTURE ASSESSMENT
INSTRUMENT (OCAI)
Cameron, K. S., & Quinn, R. E. (1999). Diagnosing and changing
organizational culture.

NECESSARY CULTURAL
TRAITS
• Trusting
• Positive/optimistic
• Adaptive
• Tolerance for the unknown
• Open communications
• People feel safe experimenting
• Customer services focus
• Learning culture

AND IF THIS DOESN’T
DESCRIBE THE CULTURE
AT YOUR LIBRARY...

GRASSROOTS
IMPLEMENTATION
(DEARDORFF AND FOLGER, 2008)
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ADMINISTRATION
WALKS THE TALK
• Value assessment and articulates why we
are doing this
• Promote assessment
• Built into planning
• Built into reward structures
• Support library faculty/staff engaging in
assessment
• Use assessment
• Let library faculty/staff drive the bus

RESOURCES
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SHOW ME THE MONEY!
• (Release) time to learn, develop, conduct
and analyze
• Building expertise in assessment
• Incentives, grants, awards
• Professional development
• Technologies for collecting, analyzing and
retrieving data

EDUCATION
• Most librarians don’t have training in
assessment of IL instruction
• Need to speak a common language
• Need to be able to develop assessment
tools and analyze results

WHAT DO YOU DO WITH YOUR
ASSESSMENT RESULTS?
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HOW YOU USE THEM
MATTERS
• Results are easy to get
• Results are shared
• Results are used to make changes and
decisions
• Results are discussed
• Results are shared outside of the library

WHY DON’T LIBRARIANS USE
THEIR ASSESSMENT RESULTS?
• Too busy with other work
• Won’t be rewarded for assessment work
• Don’t know how to use/analyze data
• Lack of centralized support in library
• Not valued by their library
Oakleaf and Hinchliffe. (2008). “Assessment Cycle or Circular
File: Do Academic Librarians Use Information Literacy
Assessment Data?” Proceedings of the 2008 Library Assessment
Conference.

GRASSROOTS SUPPORT
• Empowered to develop assessment plan
and practices
• Shared vision
• See how assessment benefits them (and
won’t hurt them)
• TIME
• Faculty/staff are motivated to learn from
each other

COMMON STAFF/
FACULTY CONCERNS
• Assessment imperative coming from the
outside
• Faculty don’t believe assessment is about
student learning
• Afraid of negative consequences for bad
assessment results
• Time constraints
• Loss of control
• Uncertainty of how the info will be used

LEADING CHANGE WITH KOTTER’S
(1995) EIGHT-STEP MODEL

CREATE A SENSE OF URGENCY;
OR WHY WE STILL NEED LEADERS
• Ideal leaders
• Have operational and political knowledge
• Build trust
• Don’t try to be the expert
• Are transparent
• Aren’t afraid of conflict or dealing with
difficult situations
• Lead by example
• Patient - change takes a long time

FORM A GUIDING COALITION AND
VISION
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DECODING RESISTANCE
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REMOVING OBSTACLES
• Resources
• Barriers
• Time
• Education
• Organizational structures
• Make sure people feel comfortable
experimenting
• Creating spaces for learning and sharing

CREATE SHORT-TERM WINS
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NO, YOU’RE NOT DONE
YET
• Build on the change
• Remove any barriers discovered during
the initial phases
• Tackle bigger/more difficult assessment
projects
• Develop an assessment plan
• Reward great assessment work

ANCHOR CHANGES IN
THE CULTURE
• Build assessment into P&T/review
processes
• Make learning and sharing together part
of “what we do”
• Create systems for indoctrinating new
hires
• Decision-making and planning is based
on assessment

SUPPORTING
ASSESSMENT
• Provide plenty of education for faculty/
staff
• Make sure there are no consequences for
poor results
• Build incentives for doing assessment
• Focus on student learning
• Give people time to reflect on their
assessment results and improve their
teaching

SUPPORTING
ASSESSMENT
• Develop a common language for talking
about assessment
• Develop common learning outcomes for
your instruction program
• Let faculty develop their own assessment
instruments
• Meet often to discuss what you’re learning
from assessment

RESOURCES: LIBRARIES
Ariew, Susan, and Edward Lener. 2005. “Evaluating instruction: Developing a program that supports the teaching librarian.”
Research Strategies 20 (4): 506-515.
Hiller, Steve, Martha Kyrillidou, and Jim Self. 2008. “When the evidence is not enough: Organizational factors that influence
effective and successful library assessment.” Performance Measurement and Metrics 9 (3): 223-230.
Lakos, Amos. 2001. Culture of assessment as a catalyst for organizational culture change in libraries. In Proceedings of the Fourth
Northumbria International Conference on Performance Measurement in Libraries and Information Service, 12 to 16 August
2001, 311-319. New Castle, England: University of Northumbria.
Lakos, Amos, and Shelley E. Phipps. 2004. “Creating a Culture of Assessment: A Catalyst for Organizational Change.” portal:
Libraries and the Academy 4 (3): 345-361.
Oakleaf, Megan. 2010. Value of Academic Libraries: A Comprehensive Research Review and Report. Chicago: ACRL.
———. 2011. “Are They Learning? Are We? Learning Outcomes and the Academic Library.” Library Quarterly 81 (1): 61-82.
Oakleaf, Megan, and Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe. 2008. Assessment Cycle or Circular File: Do Academic Librarians Use Information
Literacy Assessment Data? In Proceedings of the 2008 Library Assessment Conference Building Effective Sustainable
Practical Assessment, ed. Steve Hiller, Kristina Justh, Martha Kyrillidou, and Jim Self, 159-164. Washington, D.C.:
Association of Research Libraries.
Rabine, J, and C. Cardwell. 2000. “Start making sense: practical approaches to outcomes assessment for libraries.” Research
Strategies 17 (4): 319-335.
Schroeder, Randall, and Kimberly Babcock Mashek. 2007. “Building a Case for the Teaching Library: Using a Culture of
Assessment to Reassure Converted Campus Partners While Persuading the Reluctant.” Public Services Quarterly 3 (1/2):
83-110.
Shepstone, Carol, and Lyn Currie. 2008. “Transforming the Academic Library: Creating an Organizational Culture that Fosters
Staff Success.” The Journal of Academic Librarianship 34 (4): 358-369.

RESOURCES: HIGHER
EDUCATION
Anagnos, Thalia, Barbara J Conry, Scot M Guenter, Jackie Snell, Beth Von Till, and Sustainability Defi. 2008. “Building Sustainable
Assessment: One University’s Experience.” Assessment Update 20 (6): 5-9.
Becker, R. 2009. “Implementing an Assessment Program: A Faculty Member’s Perspective.” Academic Leadership Journal 7 (1): 2-5.
Bird, Anne Marie. 2001. “Faculty Buy-In to Assessment Activities: A Group Dynamics Approach.” Assessment Update 13 (1): 6-16.
Deardorff, Michelle D, and Paul J Folger. 2008. Making Assessment Matter: Changing Cultures, Improving Teaching, and Transforming
Departments. In Annual meeting of the American Political Science Teaching and Learning Conference, San Jose Marriott, San
Jose, California, Feb 22, 2008.
Ebersole, TE. 2009. “Postsecondary Assessment: Faculty Attitudes and Levels of Engagement.” Assessment Update 21 (2): 1-14.
Ennis, DJ. 2010. “Contra assessment culture.” Assessment Update 22 (2): 1-15.
Haviland, D. 2009a. “Leading assessment: From faculty reluctance to faculty engagement.” Academic Leadership 7 (1).
———. 2009b. “Why are faculty wary of assessment?” Academic Leadership Journal 7 (3).
Hill, Jeffrey S. 2005. “Developing a Culture of Assessment: Insights from Theory and Experience.” Journal of Political Science
Education 1 (1) (February 9): 29-37.
Irvine, P. 2009. “Perceptions of College Faculty Regarding Outcomes Assessment.” International Electronic Journal for Leadership in
Learning 13 (2).
Kramer, Philip I. 2009. “The Art of Making Assessment Anti-Venom: Injecting Assessment in Small Doses to Create a Faculty Culture
of Assessment.” Assessment Update 21 (6): 8-11.
Middaugh, Michael F. 2009. “Closing the Loop: Linking Planning and Assessment.” Planning for Higher Education 37 (3): 5-14.
Ndoye, Abdou. 2010. “Creating and Sustaining a Culture of Assessment.” Planning for Higher Education 38 (2): 28-39.
Weiner, W. F. 2009. “Establishing a culture of assessment.” Academe 95 (4): 28-32.

RESOURCES: BUSINESS AND
ORG. PSYCH
Avey, J. B., T. S. Wernsing, and F. Luthans. 2008. “Can Positive Employees Help Positive Organizational Change? Impact
of Psychological Capital and Emotions on Relevant Attitudes and Behaviors.” The Journal of Applied Behavioral
Science 44: 48-70.
Cameron, Kim S., and Robert E. Quinn. 2011. Diagnosing and Changing Organizational Culture: Based on the
Competing Values Framework. San Francisco: John Wiley and Sons.
Choi, Myungweon. 2011. “Employee Attitudes toward Organizational Change: A Literature Review.” Human Resource
Management 50 (4): 479-500.
Ford, JD, and L Ford. 2009. “Decoding resistance to change.” Harvard Business Review 87 (4): 99-103.
Ford, Jeffrey D., and Laurie W. Ford. 2010. “Stop Blaming Resistance to Change and Start Using It.” Organizational
Dynamics 39 (1): 24-36.
Fredrickson, B. L. 2003. Positive emotions and upward spirals in organizations. In Positive organizational scholarship, ed.
S. Cameron, J. E. Dutton, and R. E. Quinn. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.
Galford, Robert, and Anne Siebold Drapeau. 2003. “The Enemies of Trust.” Harvard Business Review 81 (2): 88-95.
Kotter, J.P. 1995. “Leading change: Why transformation efforts fail.” Harvard Business Review 73 (2): 59–67.
———. 1996. Leading Change. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
Moran, John W, and Baird K Brightman. 2000. “Leading organizational change.” Leadership 12 (2): 66-74.
Quinn, Robert, and J. Rohrbaugh. 1981. “A Competing Values Approach to Organizational Effectiveness.” Public
Productivity Review 5 (2): 122-140.
Waddell, Dianne, and Amrik S. Sohal. 1998. “Resistance: a constructive tool for change management.” Management
Decision 36 (8): 543-548.

Questions?
Find me at
meredith.wolfwater.com/wordpress
mgfarkas (at) gmail.com
flickr, twitter: librarianmer
facebook: meredithfarkas
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Slides at http://meredithfarkas.wetpaint.com