Last year, I used this space to describe the plan we piloted in the fall semester of 2005 to assess our BA program in English. We implemented the program in the spring semester of 2006 by asking our graduating seniors to submit a portfolio of their work in English at MSU. We also asked seniors to attend an exit interview with faculty members of our assessment committee, and then to fill out an exit survey on the major.

Results from this three-part plan have been most encouraging. Our 14 graduates last spring submitted their portfolios, each including essays written in composition, in sophomore-level surveys of literature, in junior-level advanced composition, and in senior-level literature courses. These portfolios showed the growth one would expect from students who have read widely in American, English, and world literature, and who have written constantly over four years in response to their readings. Indeed, over 70% of the portfolios rated “good,” “very good,” or “excellent” on the strength of the “argument” and the depth of the “content” developed in the selected essays. These data suggest that our program lives up to its promise to teach students to read and write critically, precisely the knowledge and the skills they will need to prosper as graduate students or as professionals in any field.

These portfolios also included reflective essays, allowing the students to discuss each of their five selections in terms of their growth as critical readers and writers. Sixty-eight percent of our graduates demonstrated that they could perform this sophisticated metacognitive writing at the “good” to “excellent” levels. To meet the needs of the 32% of our graduates who struggle with this reflective writing, we’re considering how we might build written revision strategies into all our courses to ensure that all seniors have experience in rhetorical analysis before they prepare their senior portfolios. For the same reason, we have also begun to require portfolios in our junior-level Advanced Composition courses, where we will also re-double our efforts to teach methods of scholarly documentation and attribution as well as editing and proofreading skills more effectively, areas of concern also revealed by the portfolios.

As noted above, in addition to submitting these exit portfolios, graduating seniors—in groups of three or four—also attended exit interviews, where they discussed their perceptions of their degree program with several faculty members. At the end of this 45-minute conversation, each graduate filled out a 30-question survey on their experience in the BA program. Once again, students’ oral and written comments showed high degrees of satisfaction with what they learned about writing, creative writing, and literature.

However, students also suggested that the department find ways to acculturate majors to professional life in various fields of English studies, beginning with strategies for applying to graduate schools. To meet this need, Dr. Kelly Marsh organized a panel of speakers—Professors Becky Hagenston, Tommy Anderson, Lara Dodds, Ben Torbert, Tennyson O’Donnell—to address our BA and MA students on these professional issues. We have also begun exploring the possibility of devising a course focusing on the profession.

Over time, then, these portfolios, interviews, and surveys will allow us to continue documenting the strengths of the degree program. This assessment plan will also help us to discover more ways to strengthen our already challenging curriculum and our effective teaching strategies. Stay tuned!

Rich Raymond, Department Head