City College of San Francisco - California Competes

THEME II
were handled through one department, General Counseling. The reorganization created four separate
departments, each with a specific domain: New Student Counseling, Continuing Student Counseling,
International Student Counseling, and Transfer Student Counseling. 11 In addition, the targeted student
retention programs, such as the African American Achievement Program and the Latino Services Network,
were recognized as individual entities with administrative directors overseeing each unit. The reorganization
led to an effort among faculty leaders and administrators to define the mission of each unit within
the Division and to develop clearly articulated learning outcomes related to those missions.
In Fall 2003, a FLEX presentation, entitled “Student Learning Outcomes and Student Development,” was
offered to initiate the Division’s SLO initiative. About 20 of the participants from that workshop formed
the core work group for the initiative. They immediately identified three key questions:
• How do we identify desired learning outcomes or competencies for courses and programs
• What kind of assessment tools are used to measure whether students have learned
the desired outcomes
• What are the general skills and competencies that all students should have acquired
and internalized when they use services and complete our programs 12
However, the work group quickly recognized that the dramatic changes in the organization of the Division
over the last several years required the development of a mission statement for the Division as a whole
which would, in turn, guide the development of a mission statement for each of the newly formed and
existing units within the Division. These mission statements would provide guidance in the development
of student learning outcomes and appropriate tools for the assessments of those outcomes.
Over the course of the Spring and Fall 2004 semesters, the work group met regularly to craft the Divisional
mission statement with input from the departments and administrative units. Simultaneously, several of
the units within the Division initiated the development of departmental mission statements, promoting
an active dialog regarding the mission of each program and service and the role each program plays in the
overall effectiveness of the Division. As the mission statements evolved, it was clear that if the Division
were going to make Student Learning Outcomes a core value that informed its mission, it needed to
undertake a preliminary assessment of the current status of SLOs across the Division. During Spring 2004,
a simple inventory of present practices was conducted by 12 department chairs and administrators with
their faculty and staff to answer four basic questions:
1. What are the general skills and competencies that all students should have acquired and internalized
when they use our services and/or complete our programs
2. How have we identified these desired learning outcomes, competencies, or objectives for
our Department/Program
3. What kinds of assessment tools do we—or could we—use to measure whether students have
learned the desired skills and competencies
4. What impact have prior assessments of our impact on student learning and development had
on the work of the Department/Program 13
11 Career Development and Placement, Matriculation, and Admissions and Records were already separate units.
12 “Student Learning Outcomes and Student Development: A Synopsis of the Forum for Practitioners,” Fall FLEX 2003, p. 2.
13 “Student Development: Initial Inventory of Student Learning Outcomes,” Spring 2004, p.2.
CITY COLLEGE OF SAN FRANCISCO 271