The English Department utilizes assessment for the following reasons:

• To determine students’ mastery of standards, course objectives, and department goals
• To provide feedback so that students and teachers can identify strengths and weaknesses
• To give students opportunities to apply knowledge in new contexts
• To prepare students for high-stakes assessments

Assessment will look different for different courses, but most will require some combination of the following: homework, classwork, quizzes, projects, tests, in-class essays, process writing, presentations, Socratic seminars/graded discussion, midterms or finals.

Some courses conduct part or all of their assessments using a standards-based approach.

Feedback is a critical part of assessment, and students can expect feedback within one week for smaller assessments and two-three weeks for larger assessments or writing assignments, subject to makeups.