7210-13 Formative Assessment Policy

Purpose

The aims of this formative assessment policy are, first, to ensure that all faculty periodically receive feedback about their teaching in order to promote their professional development and to increase teaching effectiveness, and second, to ensure that departments and programs have access to data to facilitate teacher, course, and curriculum development.

Principles

1. Since departments and programs are responsible for the quality of their courses, the design, use and criteria of any formative assessment system are professional and therefore departmental and program responsibilities.
2. Given that the quality of instruction is dependent upon many factors, some beyond the control of the faculty and the department and program, it must be recognized that formative assessment by itself, may or may not improve the quality of instruction. Therefore, emphasis must be placed on faculty and curriculum development, and such emphasis should be reflected in the provision of College resources and in departmental or program activities.
3. Faculty and curriculum development should be carried out in a spirit of collegiality and mutual respect, reflected in suitable events at frequent and regular intervals both within departments and programs and college-wide.
4. None of the information generated by the formative assessment process may be used for summative purposes.

Policy

1. Each department and program will institute and publish a procedure which allows for frequent use of formative assessment. Each teacher has a professional responsibility to participate in this formal procedure. Such a procedure need not assess each teacher every semester, but a suitable frequency of use shall be determined and published by each department and program. It is suggested that tenured faculty participate once every two years, and non-tenured faculty every semester (up to the equivalent of two years of full-time service, and thereafter as tenured faculty).
2. Formative assessment procedures must contain a survey of student opinion and may include other components, such as self-assessment, peer assessment, assessment by video-taped classes, etc.
3. Where it is consistent with confidentiality, department and program members should be apprised of global departmental and program assessment results in order to have a point of comparison with their individual profiles.
4. Annually, each department and program will provide to their Faculty Dean a description of their formative assessment procedures and their grouped profiles of results, respecting the confidentiality of individuals, and will identify their professional development needs.
5. Departments and programs will respect the confidentiality of individuals. Departments and programs should develop coding systems to protect the confidentiality of any computer scanned student assessment questionnaires. Members of small departments and programs have the right to develop a common questionnaire and to request that their results be processed together with other such groups in order that individuals not be easily identified: any such request must be honoured.
6. Academic Council should establish a Standing Committee on Formative Assessment to promote and to document the implementation of the present policy throughout the College, and to report to Council any accomplishments or perceived abuses of the policy, while respecting confidentiality.

The responsibilities of the administration in formative assessment

1. The College will provide resources for departments to carry out the procedures for formative faculty and course assessment.
2. The College will provide a computer program which accurately and usefully analyses student survey responses and presents results in a clear, readable and timely fashion.
3. The College will provide adequate funding for faculty and curriculum development in the broadest sense, that is, to improve teaching effectiveness and curriculum offerings by supporting creative teaching innovations, preparation of course materials, remediation of specific problems, etc.