Assessing Civic Learning and Community Impact in Community Engagement Programs: Tensions, Strategies, and Resources

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1 Assessing Civic Learning and Community Impact in Community Engagement Programs: Tensions, Strategies, and Resources Sayaka Machizawa, PsyD, The Chicago School of Professional Psychology Star Moore, MEd, University of San Francisco

2 USF: Institutional Profile Jesuit Catholic Liberal Arts University Urban campus with branch campuses across California 6,782 undergraduate students, 3,447 graduate students 22% Asian, 6% African American, 18% Latino, 30% White, 17% International Service learning required for all undergraduates Carnegie Community Engagement Classification (2006, 2015)

3 USF: Public Service and Community Engagement Minor Run by McCarthy Center for Public Service and the Common Good Students develop skills, knowledge, and attitudes to be agents of social change 20 units, draws on courses from several disciplines Three themes: Civic Issues, Social Identities, and Models of Social Change Leadership for Civic Engagement (2 unit intro course) Engaging Community: Research/Advocacy for Social Justice (2 unit capstone) Service learning is built in

4 USF: PSCE Minor Program Assessment Learning outcomes organized by knowledge, skills, attitudes Curricular mapping of PSCE Minor courses completed in 2015 Assessment Activities and Tools: Civic Engagement Manifesto PSCE Minor course checklist E Portfolio Exit Interview

5 TCSPP: Institutional Profile Private, not for profit institution in the field of psychology and related behavior science Chicago, Los Angeles, Irvine, Washington D.C., and online campuses Over 20 programs with different degrees (B.A., M.A., M.P.A., Ph.D., Psy.D) Approximately 4,300 students Average age 33 years old, 80 % female 46% White, 22% African American, 15% Latino, & 5% Asian Carnegie Community Engagement Classification (2010) Learn and Serve America Higher Education Grant ( )

6 TCSPP: Community Engagement at Glance The Engaged Practitioner Model Based heavily on learning through community service as active participants Promote application of integrated knowledge to practice Commitment to service and diversity is in our mission Nearly 800,000 hours of high impact curricular and noncurricular service projects in our community annually. Community Partnerships Department acts as the community engagement hub International service learning through short term study abroad courses

7 TCSPP: Student and Community Partner Assessment Students Institutional data, pre/post service surveys, & open ended Qs Commitment to civic responsibility Cultural competency Preparedness for career/internship Service self efficacy Community Partners Surveys and focus groups Impact on partner organizations Quality of partnerships Challenges and rewards working with TCSPP students Success stories

8 Theme 1: Assessing Community Impact In what ways are our programs contributing to community partners and/or the community as a whole? What outcomes are community partners hoping to achieve? What indicators can we use to determine our impact? What data do we need and how can we collect it? What are the barriers to assessing community impact? How to assess the quality of university community partnerships? What can we do to ensure that we incorporate community partners feedback into practice?

9 Theme 2: Assessing Students Civic Learning How do we name and measure civic competencies? What does authentic, direct assessment of civic learning look like in our programs? What are formative and summative assessment strategies that make sense for civic engagement programs? How can we develop valid assessment and evaluation tools? How can we measure the long term impact of community engagement on students civic learning? How can we minimize confounding variables that may also impact students civic learning? (e.g., other experiences, certain social factors)

10 Theme 3: Fostering Student Self Assessment What curricular content and skills need to be built into our programs to foster student self assessment? What assignments and activities help students to be self reflective in their civic engagement endeavors? What indicators will we look for to confirm that students are engaging in self assessment and reflection? What data should we collect and how? How to measure the depth of students self assessment and critical reflection?

11 Theme 4: Assessing Institutional Impact Who is driving the assessment agenda for our programs and for what purpose? How are civic engagement programs shaped by institutional culture? What opportunities/challenges does the institutional context present? How can/do civic engagement programs shape institutional culture? What data or information can help us improve our practice and/or showcase successes in our civic engagement programs? How do we measure the impact of university community partnerships on the institution (e.g., repuation, student retention, recruitment)? How do we assess service learning institutionalization?

12 Guiding Questions for Discussion Groups What additional questions or tensions are inherent in this type of assessment? What resources guide your assessment planning and processes? What assessment strategies or tools have you implemented in your programs? What has worked and what hasn t?