Curriculum assessment: A case study in sociology

In this paper, we provide not a "best practices" model of curriculum assessment, but rather a "sociology of assessment" describing how we implemented a less-than-ideal design, under numerous constraints, with mixed results. We describe different assessment designs available for different types of curricula and report results from a quasi-experimental design comparing the level of critical sociological reasoning skills between students near the beginning and those finishing their studies. Those students finishing their program, organized as a loosely-spiraling curriculum with a capstone course, displayed stronger sociological reasoning skills even when controlling for each student's overall GPA. An analysis of course syllabi revealed an academic environment with variable standards inconsistently associated with course level. Several recommendations are offered for the "real world" implementation of sociology curriculum assessment. We think the multi-dimensional diversity within sociology presents the greatest obstacle to both designing and assessing sociology curricula.