PROFESSION SYMPOSIUM: “Assessment in Political Science Redux”

Michelle D. Deardorff

Deversity Business People Corporate Team Seminar Concept

The symposium Assessment in Political Science Redux provides an introduction to the status and practice of assessment in both political science and public administration, offering a short primer for those who are required to conduct program review. The contributors to the symposium consider the development and implementation of program or curricular review, instead of focusing on individual course or pedagogical assessment. This focus on program assessment, while a bit more general, is universally applicable regardless of the subfield, methodological orientation, departmental composition, or institutional type. The articles in the symposium explore the historical development of the culture of assessment, empirical research provided by the scholarship of teaching and learning, as well as elements best practices and personal reflection. Prior to this symposium, the only other major contribution from an APSA publication on assessment, beyond articles in APSA journals, has been the edited volume of Assessment in Political Science (2009), which focused on the creation of a departmental assessment plan and suggestions for classroom or pedagogical assessment. By moving from individual assessment to the larger question of program assessment, this symposium is the next logical stage in discussing disciplinary assessment. [Read More]

PS: Political Science & Politics / Volume 49 / Issue 01 / January 2016, pp 83-87

Copyright © American Political Science Association 2016