The importance of assessment in all areas of higher education continues to grow both as a measure of learning in the classroom as well as a tool of accountability to ensure that time, effort, and resources at NICC are being invested in the best way possible. Assessment serves as the foundation for institutional effectiveness; ensuring achievement of the institution’s mission and goals. This website was created to support the effective assessment of student learning and success within NICC’s academic programs and student support services. Broadly defined, assessment is an ongoing, systematic, and organized process aimed at understanding and improving student learning, the environment for student learning, and college operations. Assessment is a recurring evidence-based process that examines whether day-to-day activities meet our mission, goals, student learning, and support service outcomes. Finally, assessment is key to making data-informed decisions about activities, programs, and initiatives within a discipline, department, or institution.

The purpose of Assessment is to promote continuous improvement in the quality of teaching and learning at Northeast Iowa Community College by facilitating the identification and assessment of student learning outcomes; those skills, abilities, attitudes, and behaviors that are most likely to contribute to student success, both as a student at NICC and upon graduation. Assessment is at the heart of teaching and learning: Classroom teachers assess student performance all the time, often on a daily basis, by gauging student mastery of course learning outcomes. At a shared course, sequence, department, or program level; however, assessment necessitates that faculty articulate clearly to students and other stakeholders a shared understanding of what students will learn, how they will do so, and to what degree they will demonstrate proficiency.