The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB), in compliance with SACSCOC Standard 8.2.a - Student Outcomes – Educational Programs and SACSCOC Standard 8.2.c - Student Outcomes - Academic and Student Services, engages in the systematic assessment of educational, academic, and student programs by identifying expected outcomes, measuring the extent of which the outcomes are attained, and providing evidence of seeking improvement based on analysis of the results.

The assessment process begins with programs identifying their expected outcomes. Educational programs identify outcomes using the academic progression of a typical student from matriculation to graduation. Academic and student service programs identify outcomes using multiple measurement methods such as organizational outputs produced and observed during routine operations, student opinion, and quality of service as reflected in the annual Student Satisfaction Survey.

The Office of Institutional Effectiveness (OIE) hosts annual meetings with the leadership of each program. The results of the assessment process are reviewed, and the degree of attainment with the organizational objectives is determined. In the case of non-attainment or low attainment, improvement steps are developed, as appropriately. The results are discussed, and the overall plan is reviewed. If there are changes to the plan, the changes go through a similar development process as described above.

The assessment process concludes with the Office of Institutional Effectiveness authoring a Status Report. The Status Report summarizes the findings and improvement activities identified in the Detailed Assessment Report. The Status Report is made up of three sections:

1. Program Status – Summary of the program status

2. Improvement Initiatives – Improvement initiatives identified in the current cycle for outcome targets not met

3. Improvement Update – Updates to improvement initiatives identified in the previous cycle

The three sections of the Status Report provide evidence of “closing the loop” by identifying strategies for continuous improvement. To exhibit this, the Office of Institutional Effectiveness combines three years of Status Reports from programs into one Consolidated Status Report.