Determining Priorities in Fraternity/Sorority Life Assessment

DAN BUREAU, PH.D. & ANNEMIEKE RICE

Have you ever felt like you did not have enough time to fit in your assessment responsibilities? Assessment can be hard work. It is particularly difficult when busy professionals who must respond to the needs of students and stakeholders are also managing assessment projects. In the work fraternity and sorority life professionals conduct every day, assessment must be prioritized even if it seems like it cannot fit into one’s schedule. The challenge of how this is achieved is ultimately a question each of us must address in our work.

Much has been written about the importance of assessment in modern higher education. 1 Articles have appeared in past issues of Perspectives, Essentials and Oracle: The Research Journal of the Association of Fraternity/Sorority Advisors that cover the role assessment can play in fraternity and sorority life. 2 This very issue of Perspectives has great content about the why and how of assessment in fraternity and sorority life; however, no matter how much you know, implementation will always be difficult if you do not set priorities.

Before we provide these strategies, it is vital you understand something: setting priorities, period, is an essential practice for all in higher education, including fraternity and sorority life. Our primary suggestion as authors and avid fans of assessment may come as a surprise to you: DO LESS. Or more specifically, DO WHAT MATTERS. This means the assessment you are able to fit in is truly meaningful to your work and the time spent on it generates a direct impact on your objectives as a fraternity and sorority life professional, and as a result impacts your students.

This article presents three steps to selecting assessment priorities when determining a fraternity and sorority life assessment agenda, and some practical tips for making time for them. Ultimately, once priorities are determined and planning occurs, you will be on your way to creating an intentional and contributory assessment agenda for your fraternity and sorority advising program.

1 Banta, T.W, & Palomba, C.A. (2014). Assessment essentials: Planning, implementing, and improving assessment in higher education. Jossey Bass. San Francisco, CA. 2 Bingham, R., Bureau, D.A., & Garrison Duncan, A. (2015). Leading assessment for student success. Sterling, VA; Stylus Publishing. 3 Henning, G. W. & Roberts, D. (2016). Student affairs assessment: Theory to practice. Sterling, VA: Stylus. 4 Strayhorn, T. L., & Colvin, A. J. (2006). Assessing student learning and development in fraternity and sorority affairs. Oracle: The Research Journal of the Association of Fraternity Advisors, 2(2), 95-107.

Step One: Align Work With Institutional Priorities Consult your campus’ key documents - institutional goals and priorities, learning outcome frameworks, strategic plans, and mission statements. Now look to the standards set forth by national organizations such as AFA or the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS). Any key points with a strong connection across these sources have already been identified as priorities at least once. Use those foundational sources to supplement any resource requests or changes you propose as a result of your assessment.

At this stage, it is also important to consider what questions matter most and what is the best way to ask. Getting too much feedback can be overwhelming, as will getting all the data you may obtain. Due to this, identify the most important questions to answer and stick to those questions.

Before you continue, double-check data on this topic does not already exist elsewhere. If it does, find out why it has not been used or why it did not meet your needs. You will need to be prepared to overcome those barriers or your data will end up in the same unhappy state.

Step Two: Consider Data Usage You need to know what questions you wish to ask and only ask questions from which you would use data gleaned. Data in and of itself is not valuable - it is the action we take with it that matters. In this step, look critically at how the data would be used.

• Who exactly would use the data?

• What actions might they take?

• Does buy-in from stakeholders who would need to support that action exist?

If you struggle to answer these questions, set the project aside until you have a solid plan for data usage. Avoid overreaching by focusing on assessments that can have immediate and meaningful impact.

Step Three: Focus on Highest Impact If the list of assessment possibilities is still too long, rank them from highest to lowest potential impact. Higher impact assessments might relate to the most expensive programs or services, initiatives with the highest student enrollment or participation, or those that impact the greatest number of people or staff time. Conducting those assessment projects first may allow the time and resources to continue through the list of priorities.

After determining the prioritized assessments, there are a few tricks that can help make room for them in your day:

• Audit your recurring assessment practices, looking closely at data usage and impact: Are you asking questions you already know the answer to? You will likely find some can be sunset or cycled to make room for your next project. Sometimes you need years of data to indicate trends or make a stronger case, but sometimes you simply need to move on to the next important topic to consider.

• Look for existing data: It is possible the data you need already exists! Meet with your student affairs assessment staff (if you have one) or check with your Institutional Effectiveness or Institutional Research office. If you can advance straight to the analysis and data usage phase of assessment, you will save a lot of time without sacrificing impact.

• Engage key stakeholders: Think back to the campus goals and priorities from step one. Who else cares about them? Perhaps others on campus have the same data need and would be willing to collaborate. Engaging others can help avoid duplication of efforts as well as increase shared investment in your efforts.

• Test your assessment with informal practices: The assessment you design needs to produce the data you need. One-on-one meetings with stakeholders or students can be fertile ground for testing big questions prior to launching anything formal such as surveys or focus groups.

Whatever the priorities are, make sure to take that final step — put the data into action. Too many great assessment projects sit on shelves collecting dust. When planning the steps to launch the assessment, consider pre-scheduling time to review the data and present it to others. Having a commitment to action on your calendar — and involving others in it — can ensure using that precious information does not get put on the backburner. Ultimately, using this data will aid in the advancement of your fraternity and sorority advising program and fraternity and sorority community, as a whole.

Dan Bureau, Ph.D. Dan Bureau is the associate VP for student academic success at the University of Memphis. He has worked for 23 years in higher education with fraternities and sororities and assessment. In addition, Dan has served as AFA president and on the Phi Kappa Theta board of trustees. He is currently the president for the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS).

Annemieke Rice As a leader at edtech company Campus Labs, Annemieke provides consultation to hundreds of higher education institutions on topics of assessment and continuous improvement, retention and student success, and teaching and learning. Annemieke worked at Northeastern University in assessment, strategic planning, retention, advising, and accreditation. She holds a masters degree from Northeastern University and a bachelors degree from Lehigh University.