A Guide to Assessment for ACEJMC Accreditation

This guide explains ACEJMC’s expectations of an assessment plan and offers suggestions for assessing student learning. The suggestions are not meant to be prescriptive but to offer examples of tools that could be part of a comprehensive, multi-­year assessment plan. This guide will introduce assessment as a principle of accreditation, describe the components of an assessment plan, provide examples of direct and indirect measures, and discuss the timeline for assessment as related to the unit’s self-study. View a PDF of the guide.


Assessment Instruments

Examples of internship surveys
Penn State Internship Survey
Elon University Internship Survey


“Making the Connection”: Aggregate Internship Data as Direct
and Indirect Measure Informing Curricula and Assessment

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— Presented at the 2017 AEJMC Conference Assessment Plenary by Michael Bugeja, professor, Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication, Iowa State University of Science and Technology. 

“Assessment: Simple measures, powerful results”

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— Presented at the 2017 AEJMC Conference Assessment Plenary by Marie Hardin, dean, Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications, Pennsylvania State University

“WHAT do we want our students to know and be able to do?
WHERE will they learn it? HOW will we know?”

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— Presented at the 2017 AEJMC Conference Assessment Plenary by Paul Parsons, dean, School of Communications, Elon University