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Community, Diversity and Social Justice (CDSJ)
 

Assessment

The assessment process for the CDSJ Initiative has been decentralized but coordinated, with each Executive Area Team developing an assessment plan and then conducting its own CDSJ assessment. The Assessment Reports for each Team are available or will soon be available on the individual Team pages.

This assessment approach was adapted in part from the Multicultural Organizational Development (MCOD) framework, developed by Bailey Jackson, Professor of Education at UMass Amherst. Working within this model, teams use a variety of data sources to gather information about the status of CDSJ issues in their executive area:

Climate Surveys. Based on each Teams's assessment plan, a climate survey was collaboratively developed called the Comprehensive Employee Attitudes and Experiences Survey. This survey was designed to collect information from campus faculty, staff, and student employees about their attitudes and experiences across a range of CDSJ issues. The first three pages of this survey were largely identical for all of teams. The fourth and in one case a fifth page was customized to assess organizational and cultural characteristics unique to each of the five executive areas. The surveys differed somewhat in administration by executive area. For example, while the surveys were mailed to employees in Academic Affairs, they were administered in a ?sit down? session within Administration and Finance. A seperate climate survey for students was also conducted which examined their experiences generally on the campus, in the classroom and at their workplaces.

Focus Groups and Interviews. Most team assessments incorporated data from focus groups and/or interviews to help clarify and illustrate CDSJ issues. In many cases, focus groups examined the experiences of specific groups (i.e. students of color, female staff, or pre-tenure faculty).

Other Data Sources. Teams also utilized existing institutional data sets in their assessments. These included faculty, staff, and student demographic data, recruitment and retention statistics, reviews of policies and practices, mission statements and incident analyses.