Developing and maintaining an effective assessment program

The increased emphasis on assessment by regional accrediting bodies and the Computing Accreditation Commission of ABET has caused institutions of higher education and computer science departments to seriously consider the tools and techniques they are using to evaluate their program's effectiveness. The current shortage of computer science professors at many schools has greatly reduced the time available to develop and maintain an effective assessment program. Successful assessment programs require the development of a variety of carefully chosen and properly timed assessment instruments to be effective and yet avoid overburdening faculty. Successful assessment also requires a process model that carefully builds faculty support for the assessment process.