Graduate Assessment Plan

We assess progress toward each of our learning outcomes with a combination of direct and indirect metrics. These are listed in the table below. Items in italics are still in development. 

Annual Professional Development Plan (Fillable)

Learning Outcome	Direct Metrics	Indirect Metrics
Demonstrate knowledge of the fundamental concepts of Biology	Proportion of students passing comprehensive exams (evaluated on a rubric) Average GPA in coursework Proportion of students performing At or Above expectations, as decided by the supervisory committee in the “Literature” question on the APDP	Proportion of students performing At or Above expectations, as determined by self-assessment of the “Literature” question on the APDP Proportion of graduating students that answer satisfied or very satisfied to a question about learning fundamental concepts in an exit interview
Utilize skills related to the discipline	Proportion of students performing At or Above expectations, as decided by the supervisory committee in the following categories of the APDP Professional connections Curriculum Vitae Professionalism Team Work Skills Identification Skill Development Proportion of students achieving passing grades on a rubric-based evaluation of the research proposal Number of publications with graduate students as the sole or lead authors	Proportion of students performing At or Above expectations, as determined by self-assessment of the “Professional connections” question on the APDP Proportion of students performing At or Above expectations, as determined by self-assessment of the “Curriculum Vitae” question on the APDP Proportion of students performing At or Above expectations, as determined by self-assessment of the “Professionalism” question on the APDP Proportion of students performing At or Above expectations, as determined by self-assessment of the “Team Work” question on the APDP Proportion of students performing At or Above expectations, as determined by self-assessment of the “Skills Identification” question on the APDP Proportion of students performing At or Above expectations, as determined by self-assessment of the “Skill Development” question on the APDP Number of grants, fellowships, and awards received by graduate students as a function of year in program Number of publications with graduate students as co-authors Number of external collaborations graduate students participate in as a function of year in program Proportion of graduating students that answer satisfied or very satisfied to a question about job preparation in an exit interview
Communicate effectively in the methods related to the discipline	Proportion of students passing comprehensive exams (evaluated on a rubric) Number of presentations at conferences and professional meetings by graduate students Number of publications with graduate students as the sole or lead authors Average grade of students in seminar course as a function of year in program	Number of publications with graduate students as co-authors Proportion of students engaged in science outreach Proportion of graduating students that answer satisfied or very satisfied to a question about confidence in research design & implementation in an exit interview
Conduct sound research using discipline-appropriate methodologies	Number of students passing thesis/dissertation defense each year (evaluated on a rubric) Number of publications with graduate students as the sole or lead authors	Number of students winning presentation or paper awards at conferences or societies in recognition of excellent research Number of publications with graduate students as co-authors Proportion of graduating students that answer satisfied or very satisfied to a question about confidence in research design & implementation in an exit interview

Future Decisions

As we continue to develop and implement this assessment plan, we will direct specific efforts toward the following initiatives.

• Determine whether and how to include skills related to teaching in our assessment plan
• Revisit the structure of comprehensive exams to ensure they test fundamental concepts
• Design a rubric to evaluate comprehensive exams, the research proposal, and thesis/dissertation defense
• Design a seminar course on presentation skills modeled after that required in Chem/Biochem
• Begin conducting exit interviews with graduating students
• Begin asking for information about presentations, publications, awards, collaborations