Program Quality and Assessment

Project Kaliedoscope “Characteristics of an Ideal Department” report and survey. This assessment was developed at the 2002 PKAL Summer Institute. Throughout the institute, working groups developed characteristics of the “department of the future.” Eight themes emerged: vision, resources, students and student learning, leadership, collegiality, environment, spirit and scholarship. This assessment measures the level of importance of those themes in individual departments and their performance against them. This assessment is one of many used by PKAL to capture and disseminate information about what works at the departmental level where STEM programs are thriving.