Late June saw a gathering of over 100 student affairs professionals invested in deepening their assessment knowledge convene at ACPA’s Student Affairs Assessment Institute (SAAI) just outside of DC in Crystal City, Virginia. Co-Chaired by Zach Hooten and Heather Strine-Patterson, SAAI leaned on the Multi-level Assessment Process (MAP; Strine-Patterson, 2022) to develop the structure and inform content delivery.
Heather delivered the opening plenary, offering advancements on the MAP including where we, as assessment professionals, find ourselves supporting the multilevel process. She also provided an updated definition of assessment based on how she thinks about our collective work, and discussed the challenges of the improvement and accountability paradigm in 2025.
Ciji Heiser delivered the Keynote, grounding her talk in her history and approach to student affairs assessment. She reflected on how approaches to assessment require professionals to reflect and inform their efforts based on reflections and considerations at the self, process, and societal levels, reflecting her prior work on equity-centered assessment.
The three tracks offered included:
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Student Affairs Educators: Content focused on the knowledge and skills needed by those who primarily work with students every day. Sessions covered how to write purposeful outcomes, program design theory and creative (non-survey!) measurement approaches. The faculty in this session focused strongly on educating attendees on the full assessment cycle, not just measurement aspects of assessment.
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Assessment Professionals: Similarly, faculty in this track encouraged assessment professionals to consider the ways in which they support varied aspects of assessment across the different components of the Multilevel Assessment Process. Sessions included the development of a divisional data strategy, developing trust with colleagues across the division, organizing department reviews at the divisional level, and tangible takeaways regarding storytelling and data visualization.
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Department and Divisional Leaders: Reflected on their roles to set divisional and departmental priorities that inform assessment efforts and using data to make decisions. Sessions again focused on building trust, pursuing collaborative measurement, leveraging department reviews, and strategic planning.
The Student Affairs Assessment Institute – thoughtfully organized based on one’s position within the organization and reflective of the challenges in managing up, down, and around the organization with respect to assessment – reflected a fresh approach to our work. The sessions highlighted that often, the critical aspects of how we approach assessment have nothing to do with measurement – there were no sessions on advanced statistical analyses, machine learning, weighted samples, or propensity scores! While measurement remains an important aspect of what many of us do, our roles require critical consideration of the human experience, divisional strategy, and storytelling and the content this year reflected those aspects.
A session I delivered with Joann Prosser (University of Maryland) focused on how we, as assessment professionals, can think about building trust with collaborators. Almost every blog post in our SAAL assessment leader interview series has touched on the role, importance, and ways in which we build trust with colleagues. Joann and I shared and discussed a model of trust, the importance of communication, and value of understanding the strengths and assessment philosophies of our colleagues. I particularly appreciated Jo’s tangible trust building tips - for example, seeking out department level data to triangulate what we may collect centrally at the divisional level and using this to clarify results, assumptions, and action steps. While we all continue to navigate the complexities that are our roles, it’s opportunities to come together at events like the Student Affairs Assessment Institute not just to present to each other, but to engage in collaborative conversations that advance our individual work and our field.
