Ruiz leads assessment workshop

Dr. Lester Edwin Ruiz, Director of Accreditation and Institutional Evaluation Association of Theological Schools Commission on Accrediting conducted the ATESEA Workshop on Assessment on July 16-17, 2014 at the Bangkok Christian Guest House in Bangkok, Thailand. This two-day Workshop on Assessment was intended for the schools in Thailand, Malaysia and selected schools from Myanmar. Fourteen (14) participants joined the workshop. The goals of the Assessment Workshops were:

• To provide participants with an overview of Student Learning and Degree Program Assessment
• To provide basic tools for doing assessment
• To explore how assessment can help serve the school’s mission and goals; and,
• To begin to develop strategies for doing assessment sustainably in the institution.

Dr. Ruiz expounded on “Assessment in the Service of Institutional Vitality and Educational Effectiveness.” He stated that assessment is not an activity to scare off the academic deans. Rather it is a process that helps schools know how they can better achieve their mission. He emphasized the purpose of the school’s reason for existence as the first among the ATS’s standard of accreditation. He stressed that from ATS’s understanding, the purpose of “assessment is not about compliance but about a common commitment to continuous improvement in our educational practices and our institutional missions.” The degree program mirrors the distinctiveness of the school. This requires a ‘curriculum map.’ The purpose of which is to “determine where the curriculum might be too strong in certain outcomes and not strong enough in supporting other outcomes.” In assessing the success of the degree program outcomes, Dr. Ruiz recommended that one should look at the graduating cohort as a whole and not every individual student.