The minutes summarized the fourth meeting of AMCOA (Assessment in Massachusetts Colleges and Universities). Representatives from 15 institutions attended. Plans were discussed for naming AMCOA co-chairs to represent different institution types. Updates were provided on extending meeting lengths and scheduling future meetings. Preparations for an upcoming assessment conference were reviewed.

1. Minutes of the Fourth AMCOA Meeting, September 14, 2011
Prepared by Kerry McNally
Host Campus: Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts
I. Attendance
The third AMCOA meeting was hosted by Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts from 10:00
a.m.-12:00 Noon on September 14, 2011. Representatives from 15 institutions attended the
meeting (See list in Appendix A), and Peggy Maki, Consultant under the Davis Educational
Foundation Grant awarded to the Department of Higher Education, chaired the meeting. Peggy
opened the meeting and introduced Donna Kuizenga, Special Assistant to the Provost at the
University of Massachusetts Boston.
II. Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts President, Mary Grant: Opening Remarks
President Mary Grant welcomed the AMCOA Team to Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts
(MCLA). She also thanked Kristina Bendikas and David Langston for their wisdom and good
leadership on behalf of MCLA for the AMCOA Project. President Grant pointed out that student
assessment is not a new concept, although it may feel new. All of the campuses do assessment
with a level of involvement that varies across a spectrum. Student assessment is something we
should be concerned about as it focuses on the learning that occurs on the campuses and
throughout the public higher education system. As a senior ranking President, leading a state
institution for over 10 years and having strong connections across the state, President Grant is
committed to using her influence to advocate for scoring authentic student work as evidence of
student learning and a way to improve student learning to ensure that this process produces
quality education. “We‟ve never done anything like this in the past. This is a faculty-driven
assessment process.” Assessment is important, and Grant is proud of MCLA, which has been
involved with LEAP Rubrics for years. This AMCOA Project allows us to learn from one
another and trade ideas that enable us to drive the agenda. She thanked AMCOA members for
the time they are investing in the Project and thanked Peggy Maki who has a national perspective
on assessment. “Unlike that joke about „I‟m the government and I‟m here to help you,‟ Peggy is
an incredible resource for assessment. We are fortunate to have her in this process and to push
the agenda. Thank you all for the trek out here and thank you for all of your help.”

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III. Process for Naming of AMCOA Co-Chairs
Three Co-chairs will be elected by the Team, one from the Community Colleges, one from the
four-year universities, and one from the UMass universities. Nominees, as stated in the Davis
grant, must be faculty or administrators who also hold faculty positions. It is very important that
Team Members sign today‟s attendee list and hand in their completed ballots. Team Members
will vote for candidates in all three sectors. For the Team Members not present at today‟s
meeting, Peggy will e-mail the ballot to them on Monday. The Team agreed to this process.
Peggy will bring the completed ballots to the Commissioner and his Advisory Committee for
final selection. Once they have named the three co-chairs, Peggy will call each of them—likely
in October. Peggy asked if anyone on the list of nominees wished to decline and emphasized
that the candidates for this role should have the time to do it. Lori Dawson of Worcester State
University asked that her name be removed from consideration because this should be a faculty-
driven endeavor and she is now in an administrative position. In the interest of full disclosure,
Christopher Cratsley of Fitchburg State University said that although he is Interim Director of
Assessment, he is also on the faculty. He has been a faculty member for ten years and is
currently teaching graduate students, but he has taught undergraduate students in the past. He
said that if the Team agreed, he would like to remain on the ballot. The Team agreed to keep
him as a nominee. (Please see Appendix B, Peggy Maki‟s e-mail to the Team on the process for
naming AMCOA co-chairs.)
IV. Update on Poll Results about Extending the Length of Monthly AMCOA Meetings
Peggy Maki provided an update on the question of whether the AMCOA Team meeting length
should be extended to accommodate discussion items or presentations. With 21 Team Members
responding to the online poll, 76% of that total voted to extend the team meetings to three hours.
Based on further discussion about this issue, since the total number of people voting was less
than half of the total membership of AMCOA, the team recommended that Peggy determine the
length of each future meeting based on the agenda -- anywhere from two to three hours. She also
stated that she can move discussion items up earlier in an agenda and put information items at
the end so that if people do need to leave early, they will have had the chance to engage in
discussions.
V. Scheduling Monthly Meetings Beyond November, 2011
AMCOA Team Meetings were scheduled for 2012 through the end of the Davis Grant. The
2012 dates follow:

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Thursday, January 12, 2012
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Monday, March 26, 2012
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Because December is such a busy month wrapping up the academic year, it was decided that
there would be no AMCOA Team meeting that month. Also because the fourth conference will
be held at the end of April the team decided to skip that month and meet early in May. Please let
Peggy or Kerry know if your school is willing to host one of the 2012 AMCOA meetings.
VI. Update on Developing Descriptive Text for a Proposed Assessment Methods Database
Peggy asked Maureen Melvin Sowa if she would be willing to create a draft that describes what
should be entered into an assessment method database on Yammer. Maureen will present that
draft at the October 18 meeting.
VII. Parameters for Assessment Experiments
Peggy asked if there were any edits or changes members would like to propose to the text for the
Parameters for Assessment Experiments. Tom Curley suggested developing a more detailed
descriptor under criterion 5, and Peggy agreed to work with him to revise that. She then will
send the final draft to AMCOA members for a “last look” before mailing out the final copy on
September 26 to AMCOA team members, presidents, vice presidents, and CAOs with a deadline
for proposals set for October 31, 2011.
Peggy asked that the following three AMCOA members serve as scorers of the submitted
proposals: Bonnie Orcutt, Charlotte Mandell, and Tom Curley. Susan Chang and Lisa
Plantefaber will substitute for any scorer whose institution is named in one of the proposals.
This group will also develop a scoring rubric to rank proposals that then will be sent to the
Commissioner and his Advisory Committee for final decisions. Peggy said that her sense is that
many of the Team Members are developing collaborations across the State to draft their
assessment experiment proposals.
VIII. Final Plans for September 30 Conference (Kris Bendikas) and Status of Videotaping
Kristina thanked the Team Members for their patience while the kinks were worked out for this
first conference. She also wanted to make sure that everyone knew how the roundtables will

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work. After each presentation everyone will return to the Blue Lounge, where there will be signs
on the tables for each roundtable connected to a presentation. At these tables people can ask
questions of the presenters, make comments, or bring up concerns. People may use the other
rooms that are empty, but the formal Roundtable discussions will occur in the Blue Lounge.
Peggy also reminded the Team that one of the overarching outcomes of the conferences is to
facilitate networking across the State. The roundtables provide that kind of opportunity so that
people will be in a position to have dialogue with people from other campuses and possibly
invite them to their campuses to share their experiences.
When Kristina asked if there were any questions, the following issues were brought up:
How is the conference being marketed to the broader community? This
September 30 conference will be comprised of those individuals that AMCOA
members invite—given the short planning time for it.
How can we release information about future conferences to the larger
community so that more people can bring the lessons learned from these
conferences back to their campuses? Presidents and CAOs have been informed,
but we have not moved into alternate communication channels. Under the Davis
grant there are limited funds to support each conference; in addition restrictions
on space at each campus determine the number of people who can attend.
Typically, the uppermost seating that can be accommodated is around 200
people. If members have suggestions for widening publicity, they should let
Peggy know. Others responded that we should see these conferences as ways to
create a “ripple effect” on campuses, so it is important that Presidents and Vice
Presidents invite people who will take the lessons and information from each
session back to their campuses and “spread the word.” Peggy said perhaps
future funding could support developing larger conferences. She also
mentioned that the DHE newsletter will announce the remaining conferences,
and DHE will also do some feature stories on the AMCOA Project as it goes
forward.
Peggy encouraged the Team and invited attendees to sign up for the Conference on EventBrite,
an on-line registration site we are using to register for each conference. Kerry can monitor how
many spaces are being taken for the conference and report back to AMCOA team members if
there are additional tickets available so that team members can bring more people from their
campuses. Peggy thanked Kristina Bendikas and the Conference Planning Group for all their
good work and thanked Lori Dawson for the support she has provided for hosting the September
30th Conference at WSU.
Peggy reported that she has had to work through State protocols to assure that we can videotape
sessions at the September 30th Conference. As it stands now, presenters will have to produce

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written handouts and/or PowerPoints of their presentations, so that people can access the material
in more than one form—an ADA requirement. After the conference is over, Kerry will ask
presenters to forward her all written handouts and PowerPoints. Through Worcester State
University‟s generosity, we will be able to videotape most of the presentations. Given the
human power available to videotape, we will be limited to filming three presentations in the
morning and three in the afternoon. Peggy called for volunteers who are willing to offer only
written materials and not be videotaped. Please notify Peggy or Kerry. Videotapes will be
available on our Yammer site. Questions from the group that she still has to address are the
following:
If a team member signs onto Yammer, may that person forward a video to other
faculty?
May the videotapes be downloaded? Will this allow them to go into the public
domain in uncontrolled ways?
Should there be a hot link to the presentation videos?
What format will the videos be in?
The DHE has also approved a permission form for presenters to sign, which will allow WSU to
videotape them.
Kerry will collect the evaluations at the Conference and then send them to the Planning
Committee so that recommended changes are incorporated into the next conferences. Kristina,
Peggy, Kerry and the new conference co-chairs will have a post-conference call to debrief and
educate the new co-chairs on best practices for future conferences.
IX. Discussion of Future Conferences under The Davis Grant
As the planning groups begin to work together for the mirror conferences, Peggy suggested that a
focus on assessment in the disciplines be included because she has heard about that level of
interest in her campus visits. For the upcoming conferences in November and February, Peggy
made a call for volunteers for those planning groups. The plan for the November and February
Mirror Conferences is that they will be regional to reduce the commuting for attendees and cover
the same material. However, Peggy said that if new ideas emerge after the November
conference, new sessions can be offered in the February conference. A question for these two
conferences is whether or not they should be advertised together -- an issue that the planning
groups should address.

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X. Some Observations Based on Peggy Maki‟s Campus Visits
Although Peggy said she would be happy to provide an overview of her assessment visits once
she has completed all of them at the end of October, she wanted to share some of her
observations so far. Specifically, she stated that she is amazed at how many campuses are
focused on LEAP, have adopted the VALUE rubrics, and are applying them or adaptations of
them to student work. Over the longer term she believes that we will need to work together
across the State to score student work using the VALUE rubrics if the Commissioner decides to
become a LEAP-affiliated state based on responses from all of our public institutions. We likely
would invite representatives from AAC&U to scoring sessions to answer questions that are
raised about any adaptations to the VALUE rubrics. Often, she has seen that institutions will
agree on a core set of criteria and then add other criteria for their institutional needs.
Peggy said that it has been a treat for her to be on all of the State‟s campuses and to learn about
their progress in assessment. Presidents have been incredibly supportive and aware and
knowledgeable about assessment. Every institution is improving and doing it “on a spectrum,”
as Mary Grant said. Having been at NEASC in the late ‟80s when a commitment to assessment
was first launched in accreditation, Peggy said she sees the progress that has taken place in this
State.
XI. Upcoming Meeting Agenda Topics
Peggy stated that Pat Crosson is scheduled to present to the AMCOA Team at the October
meeting, specifically focusing on AMCOA‟s Phase II developments. Concern was expressed
that Phase II developments may not recognize the work achieved in Phase I, specifically the
proposed composite model for reporting results that is described in Phase II. Peggy suggested
that this issue be raised when Pat is present in October, but also reminded the team of the
wording in Phase I and in the current Davis grant: “to develop campus-based assessment
systems that can be used across the state and inform the eventual statewide system.”
At the October meeting, Ellen Wentland has generously agreed to present on assessment
practices at Northern Essex Community College—the first of our internal opportunities to learn
from each other.
At our November meeting, Michael Young has agreed to present on assessment practices at
Bridgewater State University.
The next AMCOA meeting will take place on October 18th
from 10:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. at
Middlesex Community College in Bedford. Peggy Maki will send an agenda and driving

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directions to the site one week before the meeting. Please let Kerry know as soon as possible if
you plan to attend the meeting or cannot.
Mark Your Calendars: November 17, 2011: Regional Assessment Conference at
Greenfield Community College, 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. (8:30 a.m. Registration)
Next Meeting: October 18, 2011 at Middlesex Community College in Bedford

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Appendix A Institutions Represented at the AMCOA September 14th
Meeting:
Berkshire Community College
Bunker Hill Community College
Framingham State University
Greenfield Community College
Holyoke Community College
Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts
Middlesex Community College
Quinsigamond Community College
Roxbury Community College
Salem State University
Springfield Technical Community College
University of Massachusetts Amherst
University of Massachusetts Boston
Westfield State University
Worcester State University

9. 9
Appendix B Process for Naming of AMCOA Co-chairs
September 7, 2011
Dear AMCOA Team Members:
Having discussed with the Commissioner’s Advisory Committee last week the process by which an
AMCOA chair will be named, I would like to describe the results of that discussion and the process we
will follow.
Specifically, the Advisory Committee supported the naming of three faculty co-chairs, representing each
of the constituencies of our state system: state universities, UMass, and community colleges. I will work
with these co-chairs to develop our monthly meetings and design the future directions of our
collaborative work. Annually, one chair will serve as the point of contact for the Commissioner,
providing perspectives on assessment issues as our work together develops and periodically chairing
meetings or leading discussions at our meetings. Kerry and I will continue to assume responsibility for
setting up monthly meetings and maintaining contact with all of you throughout our work so that this
kind of administrative work is not burdensome to those of you who will serve as co-chairs. The process
of naming co-chairs will consist of: (1) AMCOA team members nominating individuals from each
constituency on a ballot; and (2) the Advisory Board naming the three individuals based on the ballot
results.
To prepare for our September 14 meeting at MCLA, I have listed below eligible individuals who are
faculty. Administrators who also hold a faculty position can also be included in this list of eligible people.
If I have not listed any of you who hold dual positions, please let me know and I will include you on the
list I will present to team members on the 14th
. Further, if you do not wish to be nominated, please also
let me know and I will remove your name from the list. On September 14 I will ask that you nominate
one faculty for each of the constituencies on a paper ballot. I will then present those ballots to the
Advisory Board; the Advisory Board will name the three individuals as soon as possible. If you have any
questions about the responsibilities of the co-chairs, please email me.
Please look over the attached list and then email me by September 12 if I have missed any eligible
members or if you do not wish to be considered for nomination.
Community College Faculty:
Charles Prescott Berkshire CC
Maureen Sowa Bristol CC
William Berry Cape Cod CC
Kate Finnegan Greenfield CC

10. 10
Terri Kinstle Holyoke CC
Nina Keery Massachusetts Bay CC
Susan Keith Massasoit CC
John Savage Middlesex CC
Susan Taylor Mt. Wachusetts CC
Suzanne van Wert Northern Essex CC
Gaelan Benway Quinsigamond CC
Javad Moulai Roxbury CC
Timothy McLaughlin Bunker Hill CC
UMass Faculty:
Neal Bruss
State University Faculty:
Wendy Haynes Bridgewater SU
Benjamin Railton Fitchburg SU
David Langston MCLA
Amanda Woods Mass Maritime Academy
James Gubbins Salem SU
Bonnie Orcutt Worcester SU