Assessment and CWAs

Assessment

[Content under development]

College-Wide Abilities

SPSCC engages in assessment through the College Wide Abilities (CWAs), which are coordinated by the Student Learning Assessment Committee. Assessment results are compiled by the Office of Institutional Research.

College Wide Abilities (CWAs) are the general learning outcomes for the entire college. We use these to measure student learning broadly across the college, and to assess how we are doing as an institution in meeting our goals for educating students (you can find CWA related data on the data dashboard as “Student Learning Assessment—College Wide Abilities”).

CWAs are also a big part of our accreditation process. CWAs are also a good way to “norm” learning across disciplines and programs, especially when we use CWAs as a common language for understanding how a particular CWA might be contextualized or assessed in a specific discipline.

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CWA Process Instructions

Updated 2024-2025

CWAs

Analytical Reasoning: Assess qualitative and quantitative information to discern patterns, solve problems, and justify conclusions.

Effective Communication: Convey and receive information applicable to interpersonal and public situations.

Information Literacy: Research and evaluate information to make informed decisions and conclusions.

Multicultural Awareness: Analyze diverse cultural values, beliefs, and practices that impact interactions, social frameworks, and institutional structures.

Social Responsibility: Analyze the ethical, environmental, and community impact of actions within local and global systems.

CWA Levels

At SPSCC, our CWAs have levels. The concept of “CWA levels” was initially proposed by faculty several years ago and was intended to capture the fact that different courses require a different skill attainment with the CWAs. Students who complete a degree at SPSCC should meet Level 3 in all 5 CWAs by the time they graduate. The CWA Levels are listed below

Level 1 – Foundational

Courses at this level generally:

  • Introduce students to aspects of the outcome being assessed.
  • Often use field or discipline specific language, terms, and/or values to teach the outcome.
  • Often embed basic concepts and foundational skills for the CWA in the course content.

Level 2 – Growth and Development

Courses at this level generally:

  • Increase the complexity of the CWA skill being assessed.
  • Often use field or discipline specific language, terms, and/or values to teach the outcome.
  • Expect students to have a basic understanding of, and facility with, the CWA.
  • Offer students increased nuance and complexity with the CWA, as well as the space and time for students to practice aspects of the CWA.

Level 3 - Skill Attainment and Reinforcement

Courses at this level generally:

  • Provide students with increased complexity and nuance within the CWA being assessed, often a high level of field or discipline specific language, terms, and/or values.
  • Provide students with increased opportunities to practice and engage with the CWA at a high degree of complexity.
  • Expect students to have some fluency and facility with the CWA, even if they are in a field or pathway outside of their own.
  • Often involve higher level thinking within the CWA that includes more theoretical concepts.

The CWA rubrics have example skills and abilities, and example assessments, organized by CWA and level. You can use the rubrics to help you create assessments that are at the appropriate skill level for the CWAs in the courses you teach. You can ask your dean, program lead, your SLAC representative or the Director of Student Learning Assessment for help in designing any CWA-related assessments. You can also refer to the Leveling and Using the Rubrics Info Sheet.

What CWAs should I assess?

Make sure to check the course outline for each course you teach. Course outlines are housed in CourseLeaf.

How should I assess the CWAs on my course outline? First, take a look at the CWA rubrics, which have example skills and abilities, and example assessments, organized by CWA and level. If you need more help or want some more ideas, you should ask your dean, program lead, SLAC representative, or the Director of Student Learning Assessment.

Why are these specific CWAs listed on my class?

Ask your dean, program lead or the SLAC representative for your division. They can provide some insight and context for the CWAs assessed in your classes and program.

Are there CWA assessment examples?

We are working on creating a repository for CWA assessment examples. Often, faculty in specific programs and disciplines have CWA assessments that they are happy to share. You should ask your dean, department chair, or program lead if they have any they can share with you.

Why do I need to do this?

As part of our ongoing accreditation, SPSCC is required to assess student achievement of identified course, program, and degree level outcomes as detailed by NWCCU Standards 1.C.1-1.C.7 Assessing the achievement of College Wide Abilities for each student is part of this process.  These data will be compiled and made available to faculty through the Institutional Research dashboard.  The purpose of this assessment is to determine how well we, as a college, are preparing our students for life post-SPSCC. It is not used to evaluate individual faculty.