The Office of Operations and Accreditation provides Evaluation and Academic Assessment services for the Arnold School in several areas. Our team assesses the performance of our academic programs against learning outcomes, administers course evaluations, and collects feedback from graduating students and alumni. We also work closely with the Council on Education for Public Health to ensure that the Arnold School maintains its accreditation.
Services
Each unit at the University develops academic assessment plans that are used to measure performance against its programs’ learning outcomes. These data are used for planning and program improvement. The Director of Evaluation and Academic Assessment (DEAA) works with program directors in the School to ensure that data are collected and reported annually. The University’s Office of Institutional Research, Assessment, and Analytics (OIRAA) provides resources and assistance with the assessment planning process and reviews the plans annually. OIRAA’s Assessment Toolbox provides information and guidance on plan development, and includes a link to the Assessment Plan Composer, where the plans are maintained.
Course evaluations are one of the most important ways for students to provide feedback about their academic experience. Survey results are used by instructors to modify courses or select successful strategies; by departments for program assessment; and by the Arnold School and the University to evaluate faculty for potential appointments or promotion. Confidential survey responses are summarized for accreditation and annual reporting requirements, in addition to overall evaluation and improvement measures.
Beginning Spring 2025, the Arnold School will participate in a pilot for a new survey platform called Explorance Blue. The Faculty Senate InDev Committee developed ten core questions for the course evaluation questionnaires. These core questions focus on students' experiences in their classes and will be included on every course evaluation across the University by Fall 2025. However, the additional questions on the questionnaire may vary. For example, each instructor has the option to include two self-selected questions from a provided list of optional questions, Honors sections surveys will include an additional six honors specific questions, undergraduate Arnold School lab section surveys will include specific teaching assistance evaluation questions, whereas the remainder of the Arnold School course evaluations will contain additional questions necessary for annual reporting and accreditation requirements.
At the conclusion of each semester's course evaluations, the Arnold School Office of Operations and Accreditation summarizes anonymous student responses by course, by department, and for the school overall. Other summary reports containing anonymous aggregated data are sent to applicable program directors, department chairs, as well as the associate dean for faculty affairs and curriculum, the associate dean for undergraduate affairs and the dean. Instructors receive an individual instructor report for each course with aggregated data only after the deadline to finalize grades has passed. Responses are not identified by student respondents to protect student anonymity.
For information about courses evaluations for other courses taught outside of the Arnold School of Public Health, please contact the school or department offering the course.
The Arnold School regularly solicits feedback from our students and alumni to learn about their future plans, assess our success in preparing student for the workforce, and find ways to improve our programs. Results of these surveys are used by the program directors, department chairs, and dean to guide program improvements.
Exit Surveys
Each semester, the Office of Operations and Accreditation conducts electronic surveys
of students who are graduating that semester. The surveys ask students to rate their
experiences at the Arnold School and to provide qualitative feedback. We also ask
about post-graduation outcomes, e.g., will they be employed, continuing their education,
or are they still seeking employment.
Exit surveys not only capture feedback from student experiences in their programs, exit surveys also provide information regarding post-graduation outcomes, such as employment or plans for further education. The Arnold School of Public Health collaborates with the USC Career Center to promote the completion of the First Destination Graduation Survey by our undergraduate students near the time of their graduation. Graduate students are sent specific program exit surveys directly from the Arnold School Office of Operations and Accreditation to obtain post-graduation data. Confidential information from exit surveys is summarized for accreditation and annual reporting requirements, in addition to overall evaluation and improvement measures.
Alumni survey
The Office of Operations and Accreditation also conducts anonymous alumni surveys
to learn more about what our recent graduates are doing (employment, continuing education,
etc.) and how well our programs have prepared them for their current roles.
The Office of Operations and Accreditation conducts confidential alumni surveys in order to comply with accreditation and annual report criteria related to post-graduation outcomes. These surveys ask alumni how well their program prepared them for their current roles. Alumni surveys provide an opportunity for graduates to provide feedback on their program preparation one-year post-graduation. Confidential information from alumni surveys is summarized for accreditation and annual reporting requirements, in addition to overall evaluation and improvement measures.