BRIC Inquiry Guide-Assessing Strategic Intervention Points in Student Services Outcomes

This inquiry guide responds to the need for viable models of assessment in student service areas. Student services covers a diverse array of student functions – including Outreach, Orientation, Placement Testing, Financial Aid, EOPS, DSPS, Admissions & Records, Counseling, Health Services, Psychological Services, and numerous others. Current understanding of the critical role student services programs play in ensuring student success has never been higher. Faculty, staff, and administrators are working together to incorporate student services and instruction into a holistic college-wide approach, thus creating optimal conditions for student success.

In terms of assessment, student services practitioners are faced with a set of unique challenges as their interaction with students quite often occurs outside the classroom, through a wide range of potential touch points. Given the variety of functions that student services perform, Student Service professionals need a toolbox of potential approaches for assessing their effectiveness. This inquiry guide will spark conversations among practitioners in specific student services so that they can share their expertise while designing assessments. Similar to their instructional colleagues, these practitioners will need to design assessments that provide information useful in the improvement of their processes and services.