Teagle Assessment Scholars are a national resource for helping colleges and universities use assessment to improve student learning. Although the Teagle Assessment Scholar Development Program will provide new Scholars with the skills and resources to improve the quality and impact of assessment at their home institutions, the goal of the program is to promote the development of people who are also committed to working with colleagues at other colleges and universities to improve student learning.

If you are interested in becoming a Teagle Assessment Scholar, and you do not have significant experience with assessment at the department, program, course, or institutional level, we invite you to apply to the Teagle Assessment Scholar Development Program. The Development Program, which began in fall 2010, is designed to help new Scholars develop their:

• ability to understand different forms of assessment evidence and effectively communicate their meaning to a range of audiences;
• ability to work collaboratively with faculty, staff, students, and administrators from colleges and universities to identify actions that will improve student learning;
• understanding of the broader trends and events that influence institutions’ capacity and interest in using evidence to improve student learning;
• ability to work collaboratively with other Teagle Scholars to help institutions improve student learning.
  
  [Read more about these outcomes] 

If you have significant assessment experience, you may be interested in applying to the Teagle Assessment Scholar Program or Campus Learning Project. Click here to learn more.

New Teagle Scholars will develop the skills described above through three mechanisms:

1. Working on assessment projects at their institutions with the ongoing support of Center of Inquiry staff and the community of Teagle Assessment Scholars.
2. Attending Development Workshops hosted by the Center of Inquiry, where they will engage in activities to help them learn more about being a Teagle Scholar and about collaborating with faculty and staff at different institutions to use evidence to improve student learning. New Scholars will also discuss and get feedback on their projects at the Development Workshops.
3. Assisting faculty, staff, and students at other institutions with their assessment efforts by participating in site visits to institutions or helping to facilitate multi-institution workshops.

We plan to invite 10 new scholars for the Teagle Assessment Scholar Development Program and the Campus Learning Project combined each year. Applications for the 2012 Teagle Assessment Scholar Development Program cohort will be available in spring 2012. Click here to see the application used for the 2011 cohort.

The Teagle Assessment Scholar Development Program is supported by a generous grant from the Teagle Foundation.

Development Program activities and commitments

During the three-year development program, new Assessment Scholars will:

1. Attend three Teagle Assessment Scholar Development Workshops during their first two years as Teagle Scholars. The Center of Inquiry will host a fall, spring, and summer Teagle Scholar Development Workshop each year.
2. Support Center staff and Teagle Scholars at two Center of Inquiry events during their first two years as Teagle Scholars. These events could include site visits (usually three days, two nights) to institutions or workshops held at the Center or other locations.
3. Design, implement, and evaluate a three-year assessment/action project at their institution that uses assessment to improve student learning or student experience.
   • New Teagle Scholars will identify a specific area of student learning or student experience to improve at their institutions.
   • Institutional leaders will sign off on the goals of a new Teagle Scholar’s project, support the activities involved in the project, and set aside at least $1,500 to support the three-year project.
   • Two Teagle Assessment Scholars will conduct a site visit to the new Scholar’s institution within the first year and a half of the program to help the new Scholar move forward with their project. The focus of this visit might be to learn what assessment information the campus already possesses; to get a sense of institutional governance, political, and cultural structures connected with using assessment evidence; to work with the new Teagle Assessment Scholar to develop an action plan, including a budget, for the project; to help the new Scholar share data from the project with the campus; or to help campus constituencies make changes based on evidence from the project.
   • When new Teagle Scholars attend Teagle Scholar Development Workshops, they will meet with more experienced Teagle Scholars and Center staff to discuss their projects, including findings, strategies, and approaches to overcoming obstacles.
   • New Teagle Scholars will submit three- to five-page annual updates to the Center of Inquiry documenting the progress on their projects as well as a final summary report at the end of three years. Descriptions of Scholars’ projects, annual progress reports, and final project reports will be shared publicly on the Center’s website.
   • One or two Teagle Scholars will conduct a final site visit at the end of the project to help the new Scholar reflect on and evaluate the process, gauge improvements in student learning or experiences at her institution, and discuss lessons learned with the Scholar and the institution’s administration.

Scholars who join the Development Program will also commit to being active members of the Teagle Assessment Scholar Program for two years after the Scholar Development Program. As an active member, they will receive email updates about the program and will be available for site visits, workshops, and other work with institutions. We hope Scholars will be able to participate in one or two events each year. Thus, participation in the Teagle Scholar Development Program entails a five-year commitment on the part of a new Scholar.

Development Program costs

The Center of Inquiry asks new Teagle Scholars’ institutions to cover the following costs:

• $1,000 per year for three years ($3,000 in total) to sponsor the Scholar in the 2012 cohort of the Development Program. ($500 per year, $1,500 in total, for a Scholar in the 2011 cohort.) This money will be used to cover a portion of the training costs. 
• Setting aside at least $1,500 to support the Scholar’s assessment project on campus. This project support budget can be used for any activities that help the institution respond in a meaningful way to assessment data from the project, such as faculty development workshops, institutional retreats, or follow-up student interviews. This money cannot be used to cover food and lodging costs for site visit teams.
• Food and lodging for site visit teams who travel to the institution to provide assistance with the new Scholar’s project.

The Center of Inquiry will cover the following costs:

• Travel, food, and lodging costs when new Scholars participate in Teagle Scholar activities, such as Development Workshops, institutional site visits, and multi-institutional workshops.
• Travel expenses and stipends for site visit teams who travel to the new Scholar’s institution to assist with the Scholar’s Development Program project.  

To learn more

We are pleased to accept inquiries from people who are interested in joining the Teagle Assessment Scholar Development Program. Please contact Kathy Wise at 765-361-6581 or kathyswise@gmail.com if you have any questions about the program.