Center for Assessment and Research Studies, College Student Personel Administration M.Ed program, and Assessment & Measurement PhD program represent at ACPA National Conference
SUMMARY: Four members of the JMU community presented 3 papers at ACPA’s national conference in Boston. Aaren Bare (M.Ed. student in the CSPA program), Sara Finney (Associate Director of CARS & Professor), Jeanne Horst (Associate Assessment Specialist & Associate Professor), and Andrea Pope (PhD student in the Assessment & Measurement program) shared their work related to outcomes assessment in the division of student affairs.
On March 3-6 2019, Aaren Bare, Sara Finney, Jeanne Horst, and Andrea Pope were joined by ~3,500 student affairs and assessment professionals in Boston, Massachusetts for the 95th annual American College Personnel Association Convention. Their presentations covered critical issues related to outcomes assessment in the division of student affairs and beyond, including using theory to develop programming and student learning outcomes and connecting professional standards in student affairs to assessment practice.
Pope, A., Finney, S.J. & Bare, A.K. (2019, March). Friend not foe: Using theory to develop impactful programs. Presented at annual meeting of ACPA, Boston, MA.
In their presentation, Andrea Pope, Sara Finney, and Aaren Bare emphasized the importance of theory-based programming. Andrea walked participants through the process of specifying distal outcomes, identifying intermediate outcomes, and building theory-based program components. This presentation was attend by 104 ACPA participants. Attendees indicated the training was transformational and Andrea received numerous subsequent emails asking for further information. Currently, this work is under review for publication.
Finney, S. J. & Horst, S. J. (2019, March). Standards, standards, standards: Mapping professional standards to assessment practice. Presented at annual meeting of ACPA, Boston, MA.
Sara Finney and Jeanne Horst's presentation was sponsored by ACPA's Commission for Assessment and Evaluation. Sara and Jeanne mapped 3 sets of professional standards to the outcomes assessment cycle. Faculty and practitioners in the audience indicated this work would support training in assessment on their campuses. This work is currently “in press” in the Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice.
Bare, A.K., Finney, S.J. & Pope, A. (2019, March). Meet your match: How theory-based measures help connect outcomes and programming. Presented at annual meeting of ACPA, Boston, MA.
Aaren Bare, Sara Finney, and Andrea Pope modeled how to find high-quality, theory-based measures. Aaren and Sara shared personal experiences locating and implementing such measures. Attendees indicated they were unaware of these resources and noted the efficiency this information will provide to them. An attendee indicated this was “the best session of the conference”.
