Assessing the USNA English Major

Assessing the USNA English Major

In order to assess the success of the English majors program at the U.S. Naval Academy, it is first necessary to identify the major goals of the program. There are three such goals:

1. To ensure that English majors achieve a competency in, if not a mastery of, reading and writing in their own language for the purpose of professional and personal communication;

2. To ensure that English majors possess the ability to analyze and interpret sophisticated literary texts from a variety of literary genres;

3. To ensure that English majors develop an ability to assess the ways in which biographical, cultural, and historical forces affect both the content and the evaluation of major literary texts.

The best method for determining the program's success in achieving these three goals is to examine student performance in two specific areas in alternating years:

Area One (First Year): HE217/HE218

1. All USNA English majors are required to take HE217 and HE218, a Western literature sequence that involves a broad survey of Western literature from Homer to the Twentieth Century. Most English majors take this sequence early in their matrix. As part of the stated requirements for these two courses, students write a series of analytical papers; they also take a final exam at the end of each course.

2. In order to assess the level of student performance at this early stage in the English major, it will be the job of the Upper Division Curriculum and Honors Committee (the UDCC) to solicit copies of three representative student papers from two different sections of HE217 (which is usually the first course taken in the sequence), as well as copies of three representative student exams from the same HE217 sections. These six papers, as well as these six exams, should come from the high, middle, and low end of the spectrum of student performance in each of the two sections. The selection of said papers and exams is to made by the Chair of the UDCC in consultation with the respective instructors of the two sections involved. In addition, each instructor is to be invited to append his or her own evaluations of and/or recommendations in regard to the stated goals of the major and the degree to which HE217 has successfully initiated the process of achieving those goals.

3. Using the three major goals of the major listed above as the three basic criteria for assessment, the UDCC will then meet early in the following spring semester in order to determine the degree to which initial progress has been made in achieving the official goals of the major. The UDCC will report its findings to the Department Chair, who, on the basis of the report, will then direct the UDCC to undertake whatever remedies, if any, are deemed necessary to ensure a more consistent level of success at this early stage in the major.

Area Two (Second Year): HE46X

1. While most English majors take HE217 and HE218 early in their matrix, most take an HE400-level offering late in their matrix. Thus, the capstone papers and/or projects required in the HE400-level courses provide valuable evidence of the degree to which the English majors program has in fact achieved its three major goals.

2. In order to assess the level of student performance at this later stage in the English major, it will be the job of the UDCC to solicit copies of two 'representative papers and/or projects from two different fall HE400-level courses. The selection of these four papers should be made by the Chair of the UDCC in consultation with the individual instructors involved. In addition, each instructor is to be invited to append his or her own evaluations and/or recommendations in regard to the stated goals of the English major and the degree to which those goals have been achieved in the HE400-level course he or she has taught.

3. Using the three major goals of the English major listed above as the basic criteria for assessment, the UDCC will then meet early in the following spring semester in order to assess the degree to which the stated goals of the major have in fact been achieved. The UDCC will report its findings to the Department Chair, who, on the basis of the report, will then direct the UDCC to undertake whatever remedies, if any, are deemed necessary to ensure a more consistent level of success at this later stage in the major.

The two-part, biennial assessment strategy outlined above shall itself be re-assessed by the UDCC every four years in order to determine if the information being obtained is in fact sufficient to assess the success of the English majors program. Based on this re-assessment, the UDCC, in consultation with the department at large, will make whatever changes are deemed necessary in order to ensure that such information will be obtained.