RA360: Assessment
TL;DR
Assessment and evaluation is a process whereby departments collect and utilize data for improvement. Although you don’t need to be an expert in it, you play a critical role in the process and there are ways you can help.
Assessment is a critical process that helps residence life departments improve their services and effectiveness through data. As a student staff member, you likely won’t need to do the evaluation itself, but you often play a critical role in the collection of this data and in communicating student feedback. Housing and residence life departments also collect data that they can share with you to help you improve in your role as well.
Defining: Assessment
Assessment in residence life is the process of measuring the effectiveness of a program or service. This could include sending out a survey at the end of the program and then evaluating the results to improve it for next time. It could also include a student focus group to determine aspects of housing that fall short, or are doing well.
Assessment vs. Evaluation: What’s the Difference?
Assessment and evaluation are tools we use to understand how well our residence life programs are working, but they focus on slightly different things. Assessment is about gathering information. For example, when you hand out a quick survey after a program, record attendance numbers, or note recurring concerns from your residents, you are performing assessment. It’s the process of collecting data and evidence about what’s happening on your floor or in your programs. In simple terms, assessment answers questions like “What happened?” and “How are we doing right now?”
Evaluation, on the other hand, comes after the data are collected. It involves judging or interpreting that information to make decisions. In other words, once we have the assessment data (numbers, comments, observations), we evaluate it to see what it means. For example, if a survey shows most residents loved last week’s study session, evaluation might lead us to decide that similar programs are effective and should continue. It’s oversimplifying it, but assessment tells us how things are working (effectiveness), while evaluation uses that evidence to decide what to change or improve.
Your role as an RA is primarily in assessment. You might gather information through surveys, conversations, or observation. But this assessment data will later feed into evaluation decisions by your supervisors and department. So you don’t need to know too much about assessment and evaluation (unless that’s a topic you nerd out about), but it is important you understand what role you play in the process and why it’s important.
“While you might not always see the results of assessment efforts; your role as a data collector is crucial to the success of your department! You filling out that form for your intentional interaction may feel like a pain, but that information is necessary to help your department improve the residential experience, advocate for campus resources, and maybe even provide outreach to a student in crisis.“
Why Do We Do Assessment?
There can be a number of reasons why a department may engage in assessment. It also depends on what they are assessing and what data they are using. Some reasons could include:
- Improving Student Engagement: By assessing residents’ experiences, departments can identify what activities and programs resonate most, ensuring students are more engaged.
- Enhancing Program Effectiveness: Regular assessment helps determine whether programs and services meet their objectives, allowing for targeted improvements.
- Informed Decision-Making: Data from assessments provides valuable information for decision-making and resource allocation, ensuring that the department’s efforts align with students’ needs.
- Supporting Student Success: Understanding student needs and challenges helps residence life teams create environments that promote academic and personal success.
- Accountability: Assessment ensures that residence life departments are meeting their goals and fulfilling their commitments to students and the institution.
- Recognizing Trends: Assessments reveal patterns and trends in student behavior, helping staff adapt to evolving student needs and concerns.
- Meeting Accreditation Standards: Many institutions require regular assessments to meet accreditation or funding requirements, ensuring that departments continue to uphold high standards.
- Fostering Community Development: Assessment helps identify how well students are forming connections within their residential communities, which is crucial for building a sense of belonging.
- Evaluating Staff Performance: By assessing student feedback, departments can gauge how effectively staff members are meeting students’ needs and providing support.
There are a number of features and ways Roompact’s software can help with assessment, from From to Events and Attendance. Learn more about how these features work.
How Can You Help?
Although you are likely not the person to be doing the data analysis, student staff members have a vital role to play in the assessment process. In particular, you are integral to collecting the data and/or encouraging residents to provide feedback. The better the data, the better the insights it can provide to improve the experience of students.
- Know The “Why” Behind Assessment Activities You Are Asked To Do. Knowing why data is being collected and how it will be used can help you understand what is being sought. If you are unsure why you’re being asked to do a certain task, ask a staff member to explain.
- Provide Thorough And Accurate Information. Sometimes it can feel like you’re asked to complete a lot of paperwork. Your answers, however, are important. Try to be as thorough and accurate as possible in any forms or other documents you may fill out.
- Complete Feedback/Assessment Forms In a Timely Manner. Real-time assessment data can be incredible useful as it can surface immediate needs and change can happen faster. If there is ever data that suggests an immediate or troubling situation, bring it to the attention of your supervisor.
- Encourage High Completion Rates Among Your Residents. If you are tasked with having residents complete a survey or other type of form, encourage their completion by explain gin why it is important and how the data will be used. You might even considering incentivizing it with a raffle or other prize.
Closing the Loop: How Your Contributions Make a Difference
Collecting data isn’t an end in itself. It’s meant to lead to action and improvement. You’re “closing the loop.” In assessment terms, closing the loop means taking the information gathered and using it to make positive changes. For example, if a fall survey shows residents want more study rooms, closing the loop might involve asking facilities to convert an unused office into a study lounge. Or if focus group feedback suggests students feel lonely on weekends, the department might plan more group activities on those days.
Your work as a student staff member is a critical link in this loop. The observations, survey responses, and casual conversations you log feed directly into program review and planning. The evidence you provide helps your hall director and residence life leadership understand what’s working and what needs attention. The data you help collect is used at all levels (from your building staff up to the entire institution) to enhance our community.
For example, when you write down that three residents had trouble accessing the laundry room at night, that data could eventually lead to extending laundry room hours or fixing a door lock. When you note that 90% of your floor loved the weekend study jam, that might justify more funding for similar programs. Each piece of data contributes to a bigger picture. It’s how residence life departments demonstrate accountability and growth by meeting goals and continually getting better.
And don’t forget to bring it back to your residents. Share results from feedback collected. This is the full cycle that closes the loop: gather data, evaluate it, make a change, and communicate the results. It shows residents that their voices matter and that assessment isn’t just busywork. Sometimes departments share this information proactively. If they don’t it’s okay to ask. Next time you do a survey or collect data, ask your supervisor: What were the results? How was this used?
Questions To Ponder:
- How can assessment help make the resident experience better?
- What role do you play in assessment efforts at your institution? How can you help?
- Des your department regularly share assessment data with you to help you do your job? If not, ask. 🙂
RA360 Outcomes:
RAs and student staff members will be able to:
- Define assessment.
- Explain why assessment is important in residence life.
- Describe the RA or student staff member role in helping with assessment efforts.
More To Explore
RA360 is a set of resources organized around skills, topics and competencies relevant to Resident Advisors and similar related student staff positions in college and university residence halls.
