Academic Assessment Council
Mission Membership Meeting schedule
Mission
The main mission of the AAC is to provide leadership for assessment best practices and coordinate university-wide assessment efforts in Academic Affairs units. The AAC is composed of students, faculty, and administrators. Members of the AAC serve as a liaison to their department and/or colleges to facilitate coherent and equitable assessment strategies across the university.
The AAC provides feedback and reviews strategies for three types of university-wide assessment efforts: 1) annual program assessment, 2) core competency assessment, and 3) external assessment. Each assessment effort serves a different function. Annual program assessment examines the degree to which each program or unit is meeting its program learning objectives (PLOs). It also provides an opportunity to gauge students' experiences in one's program/unit. Core competency assessment allows us to measure the degree to which ALL students are learning educational skills, regardless of their major or program. We examine student learning in six core competency domains: 1) written communication, 2) diversity, equity, and inclusion, 3) critical thinking, 4) information literacy, 5) oral communication, and 6) quantitative reasoning. Finally, external assessment enables us to compare student learning at Cal Poly to student learning at other comparable institutions.
All these assessment strategies aim to improve student learning. As described above, Cal Poly's assessment process includes the collection, the analysis, and the distribution of data at the student level, the program level, and the university level. Assessment work is shared equitably, both within and between levels (faculty, programs, colleges, and university). The AAC facilitates the integration of these various assessment efforts.
The AAC meets regularly over the academic year to review assessment data, organize assessment efforts, provide summaries of external assessment reports, and identify strategies to close the loop on university-wide assessment efforts. As the AAC represents stakeholders in all six colleges, and numerous other Academic and Student Affairs units, our committee affords the opportunity to ensure that assessment work moves beyond silos by facilitating synergies between assessment efforts across the university.
Please see the Academic Senate Resolution on "Coordinated Campus Assessment Efforts (AS-735-11) for more information.
Membership
The AAC membership was recently revised and approved by the Senate via its Academic Senate Resolution: AS-909-21: "Resolution on New Academic Assessment Council Membership".
Meeting schedule
- AAC does not meet during summer.
- Please check back for fall schedule.
If you have something you would like included in the agenda or in a future meeting, or if you have questions about the AAC, please reach out to Jolene Girten.
Last updated: 6/25/2025