Assessment

The University of Southern Mississippi conducts annual assessments of its academic programs, certificates, minors, general education curriculum courses, administrative units, and academic and student support services. Faculty and staff complete these annual assessments and record results and analysis in the Weave Education assessment platform. Institutional data used to complete the reports can be found on the Office of Institutional Research webpage. 

The process of assessing the Institution’s academic programs and administrative and support units is supported by the staff in the Office of Institutional Effectiveness (IE). IE encourages continuous self-evaluation and improvement and ensures that the University complies with the The Principles of Accreditation: Foundations for Quality Enhancement published by the Southern Association for Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) with regards to assessment as stated in Section 7: Institutional Planning and Effectiveness and Section 8: Student Achievement. The following are excerpts from The Principles of Accreditation:

Section 7: Institutional Planning and Effectiveness

7.3: The institution identifies expected outcomes of its administrative support services and demonstrates the extent to which the outcomes are achieved.

Section 8: Student Achievement

8.1: The institution identifies, evaluates, and publishes goals and outcomes for student achievement appropriate to the institution’s mission, the nature of the students it serves, and the kinds of programs offered. The institution uses multiple measure to document student success.

Information on student achievement can be found here.

8.2: The institution identifies expected outcomes, assesses the extent to which it achieves these outcomes, and provides evidence of seeking improvement based on analysis of the results in the following areas:

1. student learning outcomes for each of its educational programs;
2. student learning outcomes for collegiate-level general education competencies of its undergraduate degree programs; and
3. academic and student services that support student success.