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Institutional Assessment

Institutional Level Assessment

The Office of Institutional Research and Assessment (OIRA) leads institutional level assessment efforts. Institutional level assessment is conducted for internal improvement or to meet external accountability demands.


National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)

NSSE annually collects information at hundreds of four-year colleges and universities about first-year and senior students' participation in programs and activities that institutions provide for their learning and personal development. The results provide an estimate of how undergraduates spend their time and what they gain from attending college.

Faculty Survey of Student Engagement (FSSE)

The Faculty Survey of Student Engagement (FSSE) was designed to complement the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), which is administered to undergraduate students. This instructional staff version (for faculty, instructors and graduate students who teach) is designed to measure instructional staff expectations for student engagement in educational practices that are empirically linked with high levels of learning and development.

Skyfactor Campus Climate Survey

The Skyfactor Campus Climate survey addresses important issues such as sexual assault, campus response to incidents, student perceptions and interactions and opportunities for student learning. At the same time, it maintains important topic areas from the previous assessment, such as peer relationships, co-curricular environment and campus accessibility.

Great Colleges to Work For

The Great Colleges to Work For program is sponsored by The Chronicle of Higher Education and ModernThink, LLC. It provides senior-level administrators and academic leaders with insights on the quality of the workplace experience and the competitiveness of their policies and benefits. The survey is administered to several different groups of employees at SDSU including Administration, Faculty, Exempt Professional Staff and Non-exempt Staff.

Survey of Assessment Culture

The Survey of Assessment Culture sparks dialogue into the state of assessment, provides an empirical foundation on factors influencing higher education cultures of assessment, serves as a framework for initiating a dialogue into what a culture of assessment looks like, why it exists, and how it evolves, and highlights similarities and uniqueness between higher education faculty, student affairs staff and administrators' perspectives on assessment.

First Destination Survey

The First Destination Survey is used to better understand the future plans of graduates from the university. This information is also helpful for prospective students and their families. In addition, this data is used to better understand workforce trends. The survey is administered to students who have recently graduated or will soon be graduating from SDSU.

Senior Exit Survey

The Senior Exit Survey is completed by students who are applying for graduation from SDSU. It is designed to help the university learn more about students' experiences at SDSU.

IDEA Student Ratings of Instruction (SRI)

IDEA's Student Ratings of Instruction are designed to provide formative feedback that gives suggestions for improvement while providing summative feedback that can be used as a component of a more comprehensive system of faculty evaluation. The IDEA SRI is administered during the last three weeks before finals each semester.