A less easily solved problem was that even many of the well-expressed objectives depended upon data that were not yet available. For example, many departments proposed to survey new graduates a few months after graduation or to track employment. University Planning and Analysis will be conducting these surveys for the University community, but UPA does not have the staff capacity to conduct its first survey of recent graduates until mid or late 1994. Despite these problems, many departments proposed acceptable plans, and most plans were further strengthened through feedback from the consultants and University Planning and Analysis. As a result, the objectives for most plans are usually clear, and proposed measurements reasonable.
Some objectives already have data available.
Of course, this process will continue to unfold. Faculty must continue to develop new means of achieving goals and must continue to adjust them as they confront varying student backgrounds and abilities. University Planning and Analysis, the faculty consultants, and the academic departments have made remarkable progress toward achieving SACS standards for educational-outcome assessment. Most departments have formulated good plans with measurable outcome-oriented objectives. Accordingly, a strong step has been made toward meeting the SACS criterion requiring result-oriented measures of student attainment.