An assessment plan is an academic program's strategy for gathering data on student learning and making decisions on how to make improvements to classroom instruction or the program curriculum in light of that data. An assessment plan should address student interest and program enrollment, student learning outcomes, and career readiness. 

Undergraduate programs should reflect on how they can build and maintain student interest in the program, including enrollment in the major. Factors to consider include, but are not limited to:

• Interesting and relevant course offerings
• Collaboration with admissions and marketing
• Extracurricular events and activities
• Using general education courses to attract majors and minors

 also include: 

• Identifying gaps or weak spots in the curriculum
• Aligning course expectations in upper-level courses with student learning in lower-level courses
• Identifying obstacles to student progress through the curriculum
• Developing modifications or additions to the curriculum based on changing student needs and disciplinary shifts

Student learning is primarily assessed in individual courses, but it is also important to assess student learning over the course of an academic program. Every undergraduate program should have student learning outcomes that express the discipline-specific knowledge, skills, and dispositions that students should develop and demonstrate over the course of completing the program. The essential element of assessing student learning in an academic program is:

• Evidence of student achievement of the program's student learning outcomes

But the assessment of student learning can also include: 

• Identifying gaps or weak spots in the curriculum
• Aligning course expectations in upper-level courses with student learning in lower-level courses
• Identifying obstacles to student progress through the curriculum
• Developing modifications or additions to the curriculum based on changing student needs and disciplinary shifts

Although undergraduate programs are primarily focused on initiating students into a particular academic discipline, they should also be intentional about preparing students for careers or further study. Career readiness is not job placement but rather helping students connect what they are learning to their future.

Questions related to career readiness that might be included in assessment planning include:

• Are students exposed to different careers related to their chosen major or minor?
• Do students have opportunities for experiential or work-based learning where they can gain professional skills and experience as well as program-related knowledge?
• Are the lifelong learning skills and other transferable skills relevant to many careers, even those not directly related to the major, clearly articulated by faculty?
• Do students have the opportunity to reflect on their career goals and to connect them to what they are learning in the program?

Some programs may have external resources that can help them identify career readiness goals:

• Standards set by disciplinary and professional accrediting bodies
• Career competencies identified by professional associations 

Undergraduate programs are encouraged to work with the Pomerantz Career Center to develop ideas on how they can promote career readiness.

The data used for assessment purposes can come from multiple sources, including, but not limited to:

• Institutional data such as program enrollment
• Completed student assignments from common, required courses (introductory courses, "gateway" courses that are part of the major, or required senior courses)
• Portfolios or other capstone experiences in a senior capstone course
• Student reflections from experiential learning opportunities
• Student surveys (majors, graduating seniors)
• Faculty surveys
• Input from a student focus group
• Input from student ambassadors or a program-related student organization
• Post-graduation employment and continuing education data from the Pomerantz Career Center (more detailed reports for specific programs are available upon request)

Many academic departments have committees devoted to making curricular changes. These committees should be informed about a program's assessment plan and any data collected during the assessment process. Then they can use this data to inform their decisions.

Another tool that academic programs can use is a curriculum map. Curriculum mapping involves identifying where in the major students are introduced to the program's different learning outcomes and where those learning outcomes are further developed. Curriculum mapping not only provides insight into where student learning takes place, it can also help identify gaps in the curriculum or even places where students need more of a challenge.