General Information

Program review is an integral part of the systematic review and improvement of academic offerings at Buffalo State. For non-accredited programs, Buffalo State conducts program review on a 5-year cycle. Accredited programs are reviewed according to the schedule set by their accrediting agencies. According to the SUNY Guide for the Evaluation of Undergraduate Programs,

"Program evaluation must be supported at the institutional level by creating a “culture of assessment” at all levels of the institution. Although often associated with accountability, program evaluation is a cooperative activity that requires energy and time to be done properly and have the greatest positive effect for all involved. The administration provides support by collaborating with the faculty, through governance, to establish clear roles and responsibilities for evaluation and assessment. These roles are shared across a broad spectrum of the institution and beyond, depending on the type of program. For example, a program that affects local schools would involve external constituencies as well as campus faculty, staff and administration. The idea of a “culture of evaluation” acknowledges the ongoing nature of assessment. Programs must be revisited regularly in order to continue to improve over time. Administration and faculty should collaborate to develop a multi-year schedule, procedural steps and timelines in order to enable ongoing program evaluation of every program on campus." (SUNY Guide for the Evaluation of Undergraduate Programs, 2012, p.6.).

Buffalo State provides quality undergraduate and graduate programs in the liberal arts, business, communication, education, health and human services, the sciences and technologies. Every department engages in major program assessment activities to measure and benchmark quality as part of either accreditation review or a 5 year internal/external review process. Both SUNY and Buffalo State provide guidelines for the 5 year review. This assessment review includes a self-study, external review and department response to the external review report. Upon completion, the Dean and department work together to implement agreed upon recommendations for improvement.

Assessment in major programs is guided by each program’s assessment plan. Student learning outcomes are available on academic department websites. Other materials such as assessment plans, curriculum maps, and assessment results/actions are available in Buffalo State's assessment management software, Planning and Self Study by Watermark. Reports detailing assessment activities/results/responses are included in department annual reports which are sent to Deans, Provost and AVP Institutional Effectiveness.

All assessment plans include:

Clear delineation of programmatic student learning outcomes.
A curriculum map of courses in each program that relate to and result in achievement of goals and objectives.
Measures and criteria (standards) utilized in determining the degree to which students are achieving goals/objectives.
Process/procedures for making changes suggested by assessment results.
Realistic cyclic timetable for completing programmatic assessment.