Gathering Assessment Data

An assessment system calls for data. What data is needed? Where will the data come from? How will it be aggregated? The purpose of this article is to help you answer these questions.

What data is needed?

The answer lies in a clear understanding of the knowledge to be gained. Strategic plans or an institutional report helps to establish assessment goals. Beyond this program and department leadership should be able to describe unit objectives. Extensive research on assessment data needs is contained in the Teacher Education Assessment System, TEAS©. If you have TEAS© it is an excellent way to identify data that supports unit assessment.

It is not enough, however, simply to identify data. Data about data, or metadata, is needed to add credibility to assessment results. Documentation on data sources increases the understanding behind report findings. This documentation includes facts like when the data is captured, who captures it, edits applied at entry for accuracy, where it is stored, security and backup procedures, and procedures to find errors and correct data on a routine basis. Quality data will bolster the confidence in the conclusions from assessment analysis.

Where will the data come from?

Use trusted data sources within the institution. These data sources are referred to as subsystems. They contain data at the individual level on candidate or faculty that can be aggregated. There are also subsystems dealing with budgets and performance. In addition, teaching programs and departments may have data that can be carried forward into unit results. An ideal situation would be having one person within the college of education who can tap into available subsystem data and put it into the unit assessment system.

How will the data be aggregated?

If data exists within subsystems it can either be imported as aggregate results or records can be imported so the aggregation can take place within the college of education. In either case the data will need to be accessible and in electronic form.

If aggregate data exists in paper form it can also be entered directly into an assessment system like TEAS©. If no paper source is available, however, a data collection process may need to be established. Entering data on individuals from paper records can be a time consuming process. Manual entry can also introduce errors.

Fortunately there are several low cost methods for collecting data electronically. Data can be collected over the Internet using web forms. Or it can be entered through a custom, interactive system. There are even candidate and portfolio systems available for purchase that can be a source of assessment data.

Existing CEA clients can login to the "Client Access" area at the top of this webpage. There you will find free sample versions of collection programs for candidate and faculty data. These demonstrations support data collected over the Internet, using email, or entered manually. If you would like assistance with developing a custom assessment data collection process contact the Center for Education Assessment.