Student Support Outcomes

Why Assess Student Support Services and Programs?

Student support services and programs are a driving force in the quality of the student learning experience. They promote student learning through academic support resources (e.g., library resources, tutoring services, disability accommodations, mentoring programs), educational planning and career development (e.g., academic advising, career counseling, orientations), and essential administrative functions that help students enter and stay on their academic pathways (e.g., admissions and records services, enrollment services, international student services). To demonstrate the effectiveness and value of student support services and programs, assessment is vital to the education process. Students’ out-of-class experiences are just as important as their in-class experiences. 

What are Student Support Outcomes?

Student Support Outcomes (SSOs) are measurable statements that describe significant knowledge or skills, as well as central processes or functions students should learn or be able to demonstrate after receiving a service or academic support resource or participating in a student support program.

Chaffey Departments/Programs that Assess Student Support Outcomes

Admissions and Records, AMAN/AWOMAN, Athletics, CalWORKS, Career Center, Counseling, Disability and Program Services, Extended Opportunities Programs and Services (EOPS), Community Advising, Financial Aid, Guiding Panthers to Success, Honors Program, Library, International Student Center, Student Government, Student Health Services, Success Centers, Supplemental Instruction, Transfer Center, Veterans Services

 

Four Types of Learning Outcomes

Type of Learning Outcome	Who is responsible for assessment?	Definition
Institutional Learning Outcomes (ILOs)	Collaborative and collective responsibility among administrators, faculty, and student support professionals and staff	ILOs represent core competencies that all students, regardless of academic program of study, are expected to acquire upon completion of Chaffey College’s associate degree or certificate programs.
Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs)	Discipline faculty members	PLOs are measurable statements that describe knowledge or skills that students achieve upon completion of their academic program.
Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs)	Discipline faculty members	CLOs are statements about significant and essential learning that has occurred as a result of taking a course.
Student Support Outcomes (SSOs)	Student support professionals and staff	Students achieve outcomes after receiving a service or academic support resource or participating in a program.

 

How are Student Support Outcomes different from program goals?

Program goals are too general to guide assessment, planning, and program decisions, whereas SSOs provide evidence that puts student learning at the forefront of institutional and program planning. Assessment of SSOs is used to develop process changes and ensures effectiveness and efficiency in operating activities and student services resources, while implementing continuous quality improvement of academic support programs. The table below shows similarities and differences between program goals and Student Support Outcomes.

 

	Program Goals	Student Support Outcomes
Meaning	What does the program want to accomplish? General statements of what students should learn, understand, value, or appreciate. Relates to the mission statement.	What is the critical knowledge that students should know or be able to demonstrate after receiving a service or academic support resource or participating in a student support program? Critical knowledge could include central processes or functions that benefit learning outside the classroom.
Focus	Instructor-focused	Student-focused
Measurement	May not be measurable or difficult to measure	Measurable Increase quality
Specificity	Broad	General enough to incorporate important skills and learning but specific enough to be measurable
Timeframe	Long-term	Depends Short-term: multiple tutoring sessions; new student orientation   Medium- to long-term:  participation in a program

 

Alignment of Learning Outcomes

STUDENT SUPPORT PROGRAMS: Learning outcomes, also known as student learning outcomes (SLOs), should align across two levels: institutional and student support.

 

The following example is taken from Library Services from Chaffey College.

Type of Learning Outcome	Statement Examples
Institutional LOs: What is the purpose of the college? What skills or knowledge should every Chaffey College graduate have acquired while attending classes here?	ILO: Critical Thinking and Problem Solving -Students will demonstrate critical thinking and quantitive reasoning skills and seek out new information and innovative approaches to problem solving.
Student Support Outcomes: What is the purpose of your service or academic support resource? What skills or knowledge do you expect students who participate in your program to come away with? What essential processes or functions should students learn that could help them achieve academic success? How do student support services and programs relate to our institutional goals?	SSO: As a result of participation in Library Services, students will demonstrate the ability to critically evaluate information and its sources.

 

Writing SSO Statements

To write Student Support Outcomes, the following approach is recommended:

Condition	What is the name of the program or department that is providing the service or academic support resource?  What is the name of the student support program?
Audience	Who is the behavior or service directed at?
Behavior	What service or academic support resource is provided?

 

Examples of SSOs Framework Breakdown

Condition	As a result of participating in Financial Aid Services,
Audience	students
Behavior	will recall basic knowledge of financial aid regulations and policies.

 

Condition	As a result of participation in the Disability and Program Services,
Audience	incoming students
Behavior	will self-advocate for academic accommodations requests within the first two semesters.

 

CONDITION

Under what circumstances or context will the learning occur? An easy way to specify the condition is to use a template similar to the following:

• As a result of [name of department providing a service or academic support resource or name of program]…
• Upon completing [name of program or name of student support activity]…
• Upon successful completion of [name of program or name of student support activity]…
• After visiting [name of department providing a service]…

AUDIENCE

Who is the audience or population we are trying to impact? In most cases, this will be students.

BEHAVIOR

Student support professionals and staff will need to specify a behavior that students should be able to do after receiving a service or academic support resource. This needs to include an action verb to describe the learning. Benjamin Bloom and colleagues created a taxonomy of measurable verbs to help describe and classify observable knowledge, skills, attitudes, behaviors, and abilities.