Assessment at Emerson

The Office of Academic Assessment was established in 2017; we are part of the Iwasaki Library & Learning division within Academic Affairs. Our office strives to ensure the scholarly knowledge and tools we gather and upload here are helpful to faculty, students, and departments as we work towards inclusive excellence.

Call upon us for virtual or in-person consultations, program-level workshops, and information about the Learning, Equity and Assessment Program (LEAP). We collaborate with the Emerson community to enhance the assessment of student learning, close opportunity gaps for student achievement, and use academic assessment to support program development and design.

Watch the video below to find out more about OAA:

The Office of Academic Assessment at Emerson College collaborates with faculty teaching in all levels, locations, and modalities to create a sustainable cycle of assessment of student learning. 

We strive to build a culture of equity-minded assessment of student learning, enabling departments to make evidence-based decisions about curricular design that enhance students’ capacity to assume positions of leadership in communication and the arts. 

For faculty, assessment highlights how we live out Emerson’s mission to educate leading professionals and artists who are inspired to think boldly and creatively. We equip faculty with the resources and support to engage in equity-minded assessment practices to close opportunity gaps and enhance student learning. 

For students, assessment enables students to articulate and reflect on their learning throughout their education, and especially as they prepare to move from Emerson into careers in which they brighten the cultural, social, political, and civic life around us.

Throughout our work, OAA strives to meet the values of IDEAS: we work to be inclusive, diverse, equitable, accessible, sustainable & socially just in our actions and in our approach to understanding student learning. 

We work to:

Inclusive

Engage the Emerson community in redefining a culture of assessment that is democratic and inclusive of student and faculty voices. 

Diverse

Practice identity-conscious assessment in which diverse modes of learning are recognized and validated.

Equitable

Approach assessment through an equity-minded lens (NILOA). 

Accessible

Promote transparent assessment design and data that are accessible to all members of the Emerson community. 

Sustainable

Enable faculty and programs to make continuous, evidence-based changes to their curricula to enhance student learning.

Socially-just 

We value that justice is “both a process and a goal.” Ultimately, it is our goal that the IDEAS that inform our assessment practices will contribute to the realization of a more just Emerson education.