Student Learning Outcomes and the Core Four

Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) are an integral part of all assessments at Cabrillo. Not only are they used to assess students’ improving skills, but they are also an important part of our faculty development, departmental culture and the process we use for reviewing all departments on campus.

All faculty and staff at Cabrillo assess SLOs but CTE (Career Technical Education) departments and Transfer/Basic Skills departments have different assessment tasks. CTE programs assess the SLOs for every course they offer and each of their certificate and degree SLOs. Basic Skills and Transfer departments assess each of their course SLOs, along with the SLOs for our AA degrees and General Education programs which are known as the Core Competencies or “Core Four”.

No matter what type of department you teach in, departments have developed SLOs for all courses, and these must be listed on each syllabus. Department discussions of teaching and learning are guided by our SLOs. All faculty participate in regular assessment of how each course and the department as a whole are supporting students in meeting our SLOs. In any semester, usually at least one per year, you may be asked to assess one SLO for either a course, a certificate (CTE programs) or one of the college’s core competencies. You, as a faculty member, conduct the assessment during the semester, and then your department has a discussion about results for all courses assessed. This departmental assessment usually happens during FLEX week, but can be scheduled for other times. There is a specific process for assessing SLOs. Your department chair or dean can guide you in the process. Each year the departmental discussions of assessments must be documented and sent to the Office of Instruction for inclusion in the department’s program plan and its annual update.

Image from Illinois State University materials.