Presentation by Evan Baum and Diana Sims-Harris at the NASPA Annual Conference.

1. Assessing Ourselves:
Mid-Level Professionals and Making
Meaning of the Assessment Competencies
Evan Baum, Ph.D.
Director, Student Success and Advising, Hobsons
Diana Sims-Harris
Director of Student Affairs, IUPUI School of Science
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
NASPA Annual Conference, Indianapolis, Indiana

2. Presentation Outline
 Pairs/Small Group Activity
 Review of Assessment, Research, and Evaluation Competencies
 Review of Current Literature on Assessment Competencies Among
Student Affairs Professionals
 Findings from GroundedTheory Study
 “From Frustrated to Empowered: Exploring the Process of How Mid-
Level Student Affairs Professionals Make Meaning of the
Responsibility for Assessing Student Learning”
 Large Group Discussion / Q&A

3. Pairs/Small GroupActivity
 Brainstorm a challenge you have faced assessing learning
outcomes as a student affairs professional.
 What was the challenge?
 How did you approach this challenge?
 What resources were/would have been helpful as you navigated
the challenge?
 What did you learn from this that you have applied to your
assessment work?

4. Review of AER Competencies
 Competencies focused on designing, conducting, and critiquing methodologies
and results obtained
 All developmental
 Inform personal practice
 Shape political and ethical climate
 Foundational Outcomes
 Understanding and executing qualityAER work on the frontlines
 Intermediate Outcomes
 Consistently contributing to the culture of evidence by designing and implementing
comprehensiveAER plans and studies at departmental levels
 Advanced Outcomes
 Leading and conceptualizing AER work at the highest levels, effectively
communicating results, and making data driven resource decisions

5. Review of Current Literature on Assessment
Competencies Among Student Affairs Professionals
 Most existing literature examines:
1. Effective practices for doing assessment in student affairs
2. Assessment as one of several competency standards
3. Perceived assessment competencies among entry-level staff
 However, assessing student learning outcomes is an emerging
responsibility for mid-level professionals (Hoffman & Bresciani,
2010).
 To summarize, if graduate and entry-level professionals perceive
themselves to be weak at assessment, and these roles do not
expect it of them, but mid-level roles are where this responsibility
starts to show up, how do mid-level professionals navigate and
make meaning of this aspect of their work?

6. Purpose and Research Questions
This study explored the process by which mid-level student affairs
professionals at colleges and universities make meaning of their
responsibilities for assessing student learning outcomes.
1. How do mid-level student affairs professionals make meaning of
and perceive their responsibilities for assessing student learning
outcomes?
2. Through what structures and processes do mid-level student
affairs professionals come to make meaning of (or not make
meaning of) responsibilities for assessing student learning
outcomes?
3. How does the organization/environment influence the structures
and processes of meaning making?

7. Methodology and Methods
 Grounded theory (Charmaz, 2006)
 Iterative coding and memoing
 Inductively derived theory synthesizing themes from data
 Participants
 10* mid-level student affairs professionals
 Public universities with 10,000+ undergraduate enrollment
 Employed full-time in a programmatic functional area
 Identified by self or a colleague as being “superb” at assessing student learning
 Assessment was not the sole or primary focus of their position
 Data collection
 Initial interview
 8 weeks of reflective journaling/2 narrative submissions
 Closing interview/member checking preliminary findings

8. Frustrated Mindset Empowered MindsetMeaning Making
Catalysts
IdentifyingAs and Prioritizing
Administrator
Oversimplifying StudentAffairs
Role and Purpose
Navigating and Negotiating
Expectations
Justifying Role to Keep Funding
and Resources
Identifying First as Curious
Teacher/Educator
Addressing and Reframing
Resistance and Fear
Developing Mastery to Model For
andTeach Others
Seeking Improvement /
Autonomy through Sharing
Results
Acknowledging Limitations and
Lack of Preparation
Pausing and
Gaining Focus
Receiving Critical
Feedback and Support
Connecting to Academics,
Mission, andTheory

9. Individual Experience
 A little more about me and my work at the time of the study
 Shift from doing assessment work individually to being responsible
for the assessment work of others in the mid-level
 Frustrated Mindset
 Meaning Making Catalysts
 Impact of assessment work on practice (Pausing and Gaining Focus)
 Finding an assessment community at the institution (Receiving Critical
Feedback and Support)
 Communicating and aligning outcomes as appropriate (Connecting to
Academics, Mission, andTheory)

10. Individual Experience, Continued
 Empowered Mindset
 Responsibility and pride in assessment (Identifying as Curious –
Teacher/Educator)
 Helping to develop competency in others (Developing Mastery
to Model andTeach for Others)
 Using data to make improvements (Seeking Improvement
through Sharing Results)
 Sometimes frustrated mindset can creep in
 Making the time for assessment
 Skeptical of others intentions about assessment
 Model is useful as I reflect on my development and those I
work with – this was missing from my assessment work

11. Implications / Recommendations
 Doing assessment vs. thinking about doing assessment
 Clear expectations, role modeling, and mentoring all matter
 Assess less, but do it better, and do more with it
 Opportunities for sustained reflection and peer feedback are
critical
 Link student development theory and assessment
coursework
 More exploration of what competency development in
student affairs looks like

12. Back to our earlier activity…
 Do you see yourself and the challenge you discussed in the
model?
 How would this be applicable to where you are now as
professional?
 How might this model guide your development around
student learning assessment?

13. Frustrated Mindset Empowered MindsetMeaning Making
Catalysts
IdentifyingAs and Prioritizing
Administrator
Oversimplifying StudentAffairs
Role and Purpose
Navigating and Negotiating
Expectations
Justifying Role to Keep Funding
and Resources
Identifying First as Curious
Teacher/Educator
Addressing and Reframing
Resistance and Fear
Developing Mastery to Model For
andTeach Others
Seeking
Improvement/Autonomy
through Sharing Results
Acknowledging Limitations and
Lack of Preparation
Pausing and
Gaining Focus
Receiving Critical
Feedback and Support
Connecting to Academics,
Mission, andTheory

14. Large Group Discussion / Q&A
 Thanks for coming.
 We look forward to any
feedback or questions.
 Evan Baum, Ph.D.
 evan.baum@hobsons.com
 Diana Sims-Harris
 dsimshar@iupui.edu