Archived Assessment Report
| Program | Emergency Med Serv Paramedic AAS Degree |
| Assessment Reporter | [email protected] |
| Theme | Practicing Community |
| Review Year | 2024-2025 - Final Report |
| Learning Outcome (or Gen Ed Essential Skill) | Focus Area |
|---|---|
| 1. Part A: Affective Domain | N/A |
| 2. This coursework prepares the student to be able to: | N/A |
| 3. Be a role model of exemplary professional behavior including: but not limited to, integrity, empathy, self-motivation, appearance/personal hygiene, self-confidence, communications, time management, teamwork/ diplomacy, respect, patient advocacy, and careful delivery of service. (Professionalism) | Are students consistently meeting the minimum competency of 26/36 points on their Professional Behavior evaluations? |
| 4. Preparedness: the student consistently arrived on time with required materials and was ready to learn. Professional appearance: the student is dressed appropriately and is neat in appearance. No hygiene issues. | Are students consistently arriving for classes on time, professionally groomed, and with all required materials? |
| 5. Initiative: student demonstrates interest in EMS through actions and interactions with evaluator. | During class interactions, do students actions show that they have an interest/ passion for the the EMS profession? |
| 6. Conduct: Student interacts with other in a respectful and empathetic manner. Demonstrates respectability and professional ethics. | Do students consistently demonstrate respect, empathy, and professional ethics while interacting with their instructors, classmates and patients? |
| 7. Careful Delivery of Service: Student follows policies, procedures & protocols. Uses appropriate safeguards in the performance of duties | Do students consistently follow written policies and procedures during their classroom or clinical interactions with fellow students, faculty and/ or patients and preceptors? |
| 30. Meet or Exceed the Joint Organization on EMS Education Standard : Final Skills and Assessment Testing (>70%) Retention (>70%) | Does the program consistently retain at least 70% of the initial class roster? Does the program routinely see at least a 70% class pass rate for psychomotor testing? |
| 31. Meet or Exceed the NM EMS Bureau Standard: NREMT Written and Practical Exam > 70% Grads Passing | Does the program routinely meet or exceed the NM EMS Bureau standard of a programmatic minimum pass rate for credentialing exams? |
| 32. CNM Standard: Retention (>75%) | Does each course meet the CNM standard of at a 75% student retention rate? |
| 33. EMS Program Standards:Student success (>70% C-pass rate of students who were enrolled in the class at census and remain on last day) | Does each course routinely have a success rate of at least 70% of the students? |
| 34. Course Final pass rate (>80% of students score 70% or better on written final exam) | Do at least 80% of students meet the minimum requirement of at least a 70% on their final cumulative course exam? |
| Learning Outcome (or Gen Ed Essential Skill) | Description of Assessment Tool | Population or Courses Assessed | Hypothetical Analysis/Target |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Part A: Affective Domain | Behavioral rubric used to gain an overall evaluation of the affective domain of our students. Additionally, there are a couple of questions that address their cognitive and psychomotor abilities. | EMS 2192, EMS 2291, EMS 2392, EMS 2393, EMS 2593, EMS 2390 and EMS 2590. | We wish to determine if the assessment tool adequately gives us a consistent, accurate evaluation of the students affective domain. Additionally, we wish to evaluate of the cognitive and psychomotor questions are necessary or relevant to the evaluation. |
| 2. This coursework prepares the student to be able to: | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 3. Be a role model of exemplary professional behavior including: but not limited to, integrity, empathy, self-motivation, appearance/personal hygiene, self-confidence, communications, time management, teamwork/ diplomacy, respect, patient advocacy, and careful delivery of service. (Professionalism) | Behavioral rubric used to gain an overall evaluation of the affective domain of our students. Additionally, there are a couple of questions that address their cognitive and psychomotor abilities. | EMS 2192, EMS 2291, EMS 2392, EMS 2393, EMS 2593, EMS 2390 and EMS 2590. | We wish to determine if the rubric gives a consistent, accurate evaluation of our students ability to be role models of the professional attributes listed. |
| 4. Preparedness: the student consistently arrived on time with required materials and was ready to learn. Professional appearance: the student is dressed appropriately and is neat in appearance. No hygiene issues. | Behavioral rubric used to gain an overall evaluation of the affective domain of our students. Additionally, there are a couple of questions that address their cognitive and psychomotor abilities. | EMS 2192, EMS 2291, EMS 2392, EMS 2393, EMS 2593, EMS 2390 and EMS 2590. | We wish to determine if the rubric will give us a consistent and accurate determination of a students timeliness, professional grooming standards, and preparedness to learn in class and clinical settings. |
| 5. Initiative: student demonstrates interest in EMS through actions and interactions with evaluator. | Behavioral rubric used to gain an overall evaluation of the affective domain of our students. Additionally, there are a couple of questions that address their cognitive and psychomotor abilities. | EMS 2192, EMS 2291, EMS 2392, EMS 2393, EMS 2593, EMS 2390 and EMS 2590. | We wish to determine if the rubric will provide a consistent, accurate determination of a students interest in the EMS profession through their classroom and clinical interactions. |
| 6. Conduct: Student interacts with other in a respectful and empathetic manner. Demonstrates respectability and professional ethics. | Behavioral rubric used to gain an overall evaluation of the affective domain of our students. Additionally, there are a couple of questions that address their cognitive and psychomotor abilities. | EMS 2192, EMS 2291, EMS 2392, EMS 2393, EMS 2593, EMS 2390 and EMS 2590. | We wish to determine if the rubric will provide consistent and accurate determination of a students ability to interact with fellow students, faculty, preceptors and patients in a respectful and empathetic manner. Additionally, we wish to determine if use of the rubric can give us a consistent, accurate determination of a students use of professional ethics while in class or clinicals. |
| 7. Careful Delivery of Service: Student follows policies, procedures & protocols. Uses appropriate safeguards in the performance of duties | Behavioral rubric used to gain an overall evaluation of the affective domain of our students. Additionally, there are a couple of questions that address their cognitive and psychomotor abilities. | EMS 2192, EMS 2291, EMS 2392, EMS 2393, EMS 2593, EMS 2390 and EMS 2590. | We wish to determine if the assessment tool adequately gives us a consistent, accurate evaluation of the students affective domain. Additionally, we wish to evaluate of the cognitive and psychomotor questions are necessary or relevant to the evaluation |
| 30. Meet or Exceed the Joint Organization on EMS Education Standard : Final Skills and Assessment Testing (>70%) Retention (>70%) | Course Rosters | All paramedic courses. | We will utilize course rosters from day 1, census, and final to determine if the cohorts in the EMS Program are consistently meeting this NM EMS JOE mandated threshold. |
| 31. Meet or Exceed the NM EMS Bureau Standard: NREMT Written and Practical Exam > 70% Grads Passing | Gradebooks will be evaluated to determine if classes are meeting this threshold. | All paramedic courses. | We will review final exam grades for all students to determine if the courses are consistently meeting this NM EMS JOE threshold. |
| 32. CNM Standard: Retention (>75%) | Course rosters. | All paramedic courses | We will utilize class rosters from day 1, census, and final to determine if the courses in the paramedic program are meeting this CNM threshold. |
| 33. EMS Program Standards:Student success (>70% C-pass rate of students who were enrolled in the class at census and remain on last day) | Gradebooks will be analyzed to determine if the courses in the paramedic program are meeting this threshold. | All paramedic courses. | Course gradebooks will be analyzed to determine if all paramedic courses are meeting this threshold. |
| 34. Course Final pass rate (>80% of students score 70% or better on written final exam) | Final exam grades will be evaluated in the gradebook to determine if this threshold is being met. | All paramedic courses. | Final exam grades will be evaluated to determine if all courses in the paramedic program are meeting this threshold. |
| Learning Outcome (or Gen Ed Essential Skill) | Summary of Results | Reflection on Focus Area | Intepretation of Results |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Part A: Affective Domain | We found three short-comings to our data collection. 1. By not evaluating the affective domain in all courses, we limited the ability to catch data that differs between our theory and lab courses. 2. We also found that by not having the rubric electronically tied into the Bs course shells, we were only getting an total score, and not the necessary score for each of the items. 3. we learned that our current rubric is insufficient to gather the data we need to mirror industry standards. | We understand the need to properly and effectively assess our students in the affective domain, but historic/ current methods are ineffective to gathering the needed information. | It is near impossible to use our current method to effectively to pull the data needed to review and potentially alter our affective domain evaluations. |
| 2. This coursework prepares the student to be able to: | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 3. Be a role model of exemplary professional behavior including: but not limited to, integrity, empathy, self-motivation, appearance/personal hygiene, self-confidence, communications, time management, teamwork/ diplomacy, respect, patient advocacy, and careful delivery of service. (Professionalism) | Most students are meeting this requirement with scores of 3 or 4. | This is not usually an area that students perform poorly in. Therefore, the results support the hypothesis. | This shows that our students generally perform well in the areas evaluated in the assessment. However, it is quite broad and makes it difficult to clearly evaluate students struggling with some, but not all of the behaviors. |
| 4. Preparedness: the student consistently arrived on time with required materials and was ready to learn. Professional appearance: the student is dressed appropriately and is neat in appearance. No hygiene issues. | This is yet another assessment that it seems most students do well in. Though after spot-visiting being in several classes in the program, I see that not all faculty have the same standards/ metrics for to tracking and documenting tardiness. | While most students do not struggle with tardiness, a few are chronically late and this is not reflected in their scores. Meaning that despite their chronic tardiness, they are still receiving high marks. | Scores are somewhat over inflated and do not totally reflect the students actions. |
| 5. Initiative: student demonstrates interest in EMS through actions and interactions with evaluator. | Scores show that a predominate number of our students clearly interact and behave in a manner that shows they are interested in the EMS profession. | The data shows that the data in this are correlates to the hypothesis. | This data show what we expected, that a majority of our students clearly interact in a professional manner that shows their interest in the EMS industry. |
| 6. Conduct: Student interacts with other in a respectful and empathetic manner. Demonstrates respectability and professional ethics. | The data shows that most students appropriately interact with their instructors, fellow students, and others personnel encountered in the course of their training - preceptors, community partners... | I believe that this area accurately reflects our students ability to play nice in the sandbox and shows they are prepared to conduct themselves professionally in industry. | A majority of students clearly conduct themselves professionally in their interactions with others - faculty, fellow students, administration, community partners. This data point performs well. |
| 7. Careful Delivery of Service: Student follows policies, procedures & protocols. Uses appropriate safeguards in the performance of duties | The data shows that most students meet the criteria for score of 3 at mid-term and 4 at final. Therefore, this data point does perform as expected. | This point does reflect a students ability to follow policies and procedures. While the data point does include a note on cognitive and psychomotor evaluation, it seems best to move those to separate evaluations during a different assessment cycle. | The data point performs as expected and should only be altered to remove the cognitive and psychomotor areas. |
| 30. Meet or Exceed the Joint Organization on EMS Education Standard : Final Skills and Assessment Testing (>70%) Retention (>70%) | The data acquisition is fine. We have a significant attrition problem and must work to correct that. | The data is fine, but our attrition is much higher than expected. | Must work to significantly decrease attrition in the program. |
| 31. Meet or Exceed the NM EMS Bureau Standard: NREMT Written and Practical Exam > 70% Grads Passing | Despite our attrition problem, students that successfully complete the program have a high likelihood or passing their boards first time. | Over the past 2 years (3 cohorts), we have had a 96% first time pass rate at the NREMT and 100% within 3 attempts (three students needed a second attempt to pass their boards). This shows that graduates are well prepared for their boards and entry level ready. | We graduate well prepared paramedic that are ready to take/pass their boards and are entry level competent paramedics. |
| 32. CNM Standard: Retention (>75%) | This threshold was not met. We have had a significant attrition rate the past 2 years. | We have struggled to maintain students in the program for the past 2 years and must work diligently to increase retention. | Results show a significant attrition problem. We will be working to address this problem and curb the hemorrhaging of students. |
| 33. EMS Program Standards:Student success (>70% C-pass rate of students who were enrolled in the class at census and remain on last day) | The data does support that of the student completing any given course, a majority are passing with a 70% or higher overall grade. | Despite our attrition rate, the data shows that the retained students are passing with at least a 70% average. | The students we retain show significant grit. They are tenacious and dedicated to succeeding in the courses and program. |
| 34. Course Final pass rate (>80% of students score 70% or better on written final exam) | Data shows that of the student retained in any given course, most are passing. However, not all courses are meeting the 80% threshold. | Though many classes are meeting the 80% threshold, not all are. We need to dig deeper to ensure that we are striving to get students through all classes with 80% or higher success rate. | We are improving on the number of students that are passing their classes, but still have work to do to get this to all classes every term. |
| 1. Part A: Affective Domain | |
|---|---|
| Describe the change that was implemented. | We have altered our assessment process to ensure we remedy the three shortcomings. 1. We expanded to include two affective assessments in all theory courses. Students are now being assessed between eight and twelve times per semester. While this may seem excessive, it allows us to document our students progression toward entry competence throughout the semester and program. 2. We have built an electronic rubric in Brightspace to allow for all data to be housed in one place. This eases tracking of completion, and allows for faster review/ reporting. 3. We opted to change to the affective rubric used by our accrediting committee, CoAEMSP. This rubric ensures students are scored in all areas that our industry feels are necessary to produce entry level competent paramedics. |
| Type of Change |
|
| Change in Assessment Approach or Tools? | The purpose, process and expectations of our affective evaluations will remain the same. Only the rubric will be changed. |
| What data motivated the change? | 1. We found that only assessing students in lab and clinical interactions was insufficient. Adding affective evaluations to our theory courses ensures that students are evaluated in all aspects of the Paramedic Program. 2. While our initial rubric was helpful, it was inadequate and failed to solely focus in a students affective behaviors. The new rubric is exclusive to affective assessment and expands to ensure we are gaining a well rounded view of the student. This allows for better coaching and tracking student progress through out the term and program. Ensuring we can honestly say the student is entry level competent in all areas of affective behavior upon graduation. 3. prior to placing the rubric in Brightspace, all affective rubrics were handwritten then scanned for saving digitally. This was time consuming, unreliable, and wasteful of resources. By having everything in Brightspace, we can review and track all classes and assessments in one clearly defined place. |
| Hypothesis about the effect the change will have? | By changing to these three areas, I expect that we will have clearer affective assessments on all paramedic students, in all areas of the Paramedic Program, and an easier time tracking/ reporting on those outcomes moving forward. |
| 2. This coursework prepares the student to be able to: | |
|---|---|
| Describe the change that was implemented. | N/A |
| Type of Change | |
| Change in Assessment Approach or Tools? | N/A |
| What data motivated the change? | N/A |
| Hypothesis about the effect the change will have? | N/A |
| 3. Be a role model of exemplary professional behavior including: but not limited to, integrity, empathy, self-motivation, appearance/personal hygiene, self-confidence, communications, time management, teamwork/ diplomacy, respect, patient advocacy, and careful delivery of service. (Professionalism) | |
|---|---|
| Describe the change that was implemented. | The outcome of this will not change. However, the grade will change due to the difference in points available on the new rubric. The updated rubric has a total of 24 points and to meet the minimum, students must obtain a 70% overall score which equates to 17/24 total points. |
| Type of Change |
|
| Change in Assessment Approach or Tools? | No alterations to the purpose or use of the process. Only the rubric is changing. |
| What data motivated the change? | We still find this to be an effective data point and grade for our students overall performance on affective evaluations. Only the points will change. |
| Hypothesis about the effect the change will have? | I do not expect to see any significant changes by implementing a new rubric. However, due to the new evaluation rubric solely focusing on affective behaviors, we may see some lower grades early in the term that will require increased counseling to aid students with improving their affective behaviors. |
| 4. Preparedness: the student consistently arrived on time with required materials and was ready to learn. Professional appearance: the student is dressed appropriately and is neat in appearance. No hygiene issues. | |
|---|---|
| Describe the change that was implemented. | How this outcome is evaluated will change with the new rubric. On the old rubric, this outcome was a standalone evaluation. On the new rubric, this outcome will be evaluated with a combination of area scores - accountability, self-motivation, appearance and personal hygiene and self-confidence. |
| Type of Change |
|
| Change in Assessment Approach or Tools? | The only alteration will be tying the four individual data points to this outcome on the new rubric in Brightspace. |
| What data motivated the change? | Moving to the new rubric required that instead of using one data point to assess this outcome, we now use data combined from four areas to assess this outcome. |
| Hypothesis about the effect the change will have? | I believe that using four separate scores combined to evaluate this outcome will give a clearer view of how the student is actually performing. |
| 5. Initiative: student demonstrates interest in EMS through actions and interactions with evaluator. | |
|---|---|
| Describe the change that was implemented. | This outcome will not change. However, instead of evaluating this on one data point, we will now be evaluating the outcome from several data points. Students will now be evaluated on this outcome through the following data - accountability, respect, self-motivation, self-confidence, and communication. |
| Type of Change |
|
| Change in Assessment Approach or Tools? | The only alterations are the new rubric and tying this outcome to the five new data areas needed to evalulate it. |
| What data motivated the change? | The new rubric requires that we alter how we collect data in this outcome. Therefore, we will be using scores from five pieces of data to evaluate this outcome. |
| Hypothesis about the effect the change will have? | I believe that changing to the new rubric and using more data points to evaluate this outcome will allow for a clearer picture of how the student is performing on this outcome. |
| 6. Conduct: Student interacts with other in a respectful and empathetic manner. Demonstrates respectability and professional ethics. | |
|---|---|
| Describe the change that was implemented. | Due to the implementation of the new rubric, this outcome will be tied to several new data points on the new rubric. Moving forward, this outcome will be evaluated by the score in nine areas- integrity, compassion, accountability, empathy, respect, communication, teamwork/diplomacy, patient advocacy, and cultural competence. |
| Type of Change |
|
| Change in Assessment Approach or Tools? | Only alterations are the new rubric and tying the outcome to the nine data areas on the new rubric. |
| What data motivated the change? | Due to the change in the rubric, this outcome must now be evaluates through the score in nine data areas, instead of just one. |
| Hypothesis about the effect the change will have? | I believe that this change will allow for a clearer view of the students professional conduct with faculty, fellow students and patients (real and simulated). |
| 7. Careful Delivery of Service: Student follows policies, procedures & protocols. Uses appropriate safeguards in the performance of duties | |
|---|---|
| Describe the change that was implemented. | Implementing a new affective grading rubric and utilizing five data points to acquire the grade for this outcome. |
| Type of Change |
|
| Change in Assessment Approach or Tools? | New rubric and tying the outcome to five criteria for grading - accountability, integrity, self-confidence, self-motivation, and communication. |
| What data motivated the change? | The need for a new affective rubric that allows for cleaner and clearer evaluation of a students affective behaviors was needed. With the addition of that rubric, we now need to compile the score for this outcome through evaluation of the various parts being graded - integrity, accountability, self-motivation, self-confidence, and communication. |
| Hypothesis about the effect the change will have? | I believe that the use of the new rubric and tying this outcome to five different criteria will allow for a clearer picture of a students performance in this outcome area. |
| 30. Meet or Exceed the Joint Organization on EMS Education Standard : Final Skills and Assessment Testing (>70%) Retention (>70%) | |
|---|---|
| Describe the change that was implemented. | no changes planned. This criteria is an accreditation standard and used for reporting to CoAEMSP. |
| Type of Change |
|
| Change in Assessment Approach or Tools? | N/A |
| What data motivated the change? | No change, we always track our attrition and class pass rates for accreditation reporting. |
| Hypothesis about the effect the change will have? | N/A |
| 31. Meet or Exceed the NM EMS Bureau Standard: NREMT Written and Practical Exam > 70% Grads Passing | |
|---|---|
| Describe the change that was implemented. | No changes planned. Due to NM JOE requirements, the program always tracks our students success rates on the NREMT credentialing exam and subsequent NM EMS licensure. |
| Type of Change |
|
| Change in Assessment Approach or Tools? | N/A |
| What data motivated the change? | No changes made. We will continue to track student success rates on credentialing and licensing. |
| Hypothesis about the effect the change will have? | N/A |
| 32. CNM Standard: Retention (>75%) | |
|---|---|
| Describe the change that was implemented. | No changes planned. We will continue to track student retention and success rates. |
| Type of Change |
|
| Change in Assessment Approach or Tools? | N/A |
| What data motivated the change? | No changes. This is an ongoing area that the EMS program tracks. In the future, this outcome will be combined with our NM JOE and CoAEMSP attrition and success tracking outcomes. |
| Hypothesis about the effect the change will have? | N/A |
| 33. EMS Program Standards:Student success (>70% C-pass rate of students who were enrolled in the class at census and remain on last day) | |
|---|---|
| Describe the change that was implemented. | No changes. This is an ongoing area that the EMS program tracks. In the future, this outcome will be combined with our NM JOE and CoAEMSP attrition and success tracking outcomes. |
| Type of Change |
|
| Change in Assessment Approach or Tools? | N/A |
| What data motivated the change? | N/A |
| Hypothesis about the effect the change will have? | N/A |
| 34. Course Final pass rate (>80% of students score 70% or better on written final exam) | |
|---|---|
| Describe the change that was implemented. | No changes. This is an ongoing area that the EMS program tracks. In the future, this outcome will be combined with our NM JOE and CoAEMSP attrition and success tracking outcomes. |
| Type of Change |
|
| Change in Assessment Approach or Tools? | N/A |
| What data motivated the change? | N/A |
| Hypothesis about the effect the change will have? | N/A |
| Learning Outcome (or Gen Ed Essential Skill) | Description of Assessment Tool | Population of Courses Assessed |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Part A: Affective Domain | Unlike the old rubric, the new one solely focuses on affective traits, allowing for a clearer evaluation of a students affective behaviors. As such, it will our faculty to better coach student toward becoming entry-level competent in the affective domain. | EMS 2192, EMS 2291, EMS 2392, EMS 2393, EMS 2593, EMS 2390, EMS 2590 |
| 2. This coursework prepares the student to be able to: | N/A | N/A |
| 3. Be a role model of exemplary professional behavior including: but not limited to, integrity, empathy, self-motivation, appearance/personal hygiene, self-confidence, communications, time management, teamwork/ diplomacy, respect, patient advocacy, and careful delivery of service. (Professionalism) | Unlike the old rubric, the new one solely focuses on affective traits, allowing for a clearer evaluation of a students affective behaviors. As such, it will our faculty to better coach student toward becoming entry-level competent in the affective domain. | EMS 2192, EMS 2291, EMS 2392, EMS 2393, EMS 2593, EMS 2390 and EMS 2590 |
| 4. Preparedness: the student consistently arrived on time with required materials and was ready to learn. Professional appearance: the student is dressed appropriately and is neat in appearance. No hygiene issues. | Unlike the old rubric, the new one solely focuses on affective traits, allowing for a clearer evaluation of a student’s affective behaviors. As such, it will our faculty to better coach student toward becoming entry-level competent in the affective domain. | EMS 2192, EMS 2291, EMS 2392, EMS 2393, EMS 2593, EMS 2390 and EMS 2590 |
| 5. Initiative: student demonstrates interest in EMS through actions and interactions with evaluator. | Unlike the old rubric, the new one solely focuses on affective traits, allowing for a clearer evaluation of a student’s affective behaviors. As such, it will our faculty to better coach student toward becoming entry-level competent in the affective domain. | EMS 2192, EMS 2291, EMS 2392, EMS 2393, EMS 2593, EMS 2390 and EMS 2590 |
| 6. Conduct: Student interacts with other in a respectful and empathetic manner. Demonstrates respectability and professional ethics. | Unlike the old rubric, the new one solely focuses on affective traits, allowing for a clearer evaluation of a student’s affective behaviors. As such, it will our faculty to better coach student toward becoming entry-level competent in the affective domain. | EMS 2192, EMS 2291, EMS 2392, EMS 2393, EMS 2593, EMS 2390 and EMS 2590 |
| 7. Careful Delivery of Service: Student follows policies, procedures & protocols. Uses appropriate safeguards in the performance of duties | Unlike the old rubric, the new one solely focuses on affective traits, allowing for a clearer evaluation of a student’s affective behaviors. As such, it will our faculty to better coach student toward becoming entry-level competent in the affective domain. | EMS 2192, EMS 2291, EMS 2392, EMS 2393, EMS 2593, EMS 2390 and EMS 2590 |
| 30. Meet or Exceed the Joint Organization on EMS Education Standard : Final Skills and Assessment Testing (>70%) Retention (>70%) | No changes being made. This is an annual reporting criteria for our accreditor, CoAEMSP. | All courses. |
| 31. Meet or Exceed the NM EMS Bureau Standard: NREMT Written and Practical Exam > 70% Grads Passing | No changes being made, this is an annual reporting requirement for our state EMS Bureau and NM JOE. | All courses |
| 32. CNM Standard: Retention (>75%) | No changes, all future evaluations will be rolled together with our accreditation (state and national) reporting requirements. | all courses. |
| 33. EMS Program Standards:Student success (>70% C-pass rate of students who were enrolled in the class at census and remain on last day) | No changes, all future evaluations will be rolled together with our accreditation (state and national) reporting requirements. | all courses |
| 34. Course Final pass rate (>80% of students score 70% or better on written final exam) | No changes, all future evaluations will be rolled together with our accreditation (state and national) reporting requirements. | all courses |
| Learning Outcome (or Gen Ed Essential Skill) | Summary of Second Round Results | Intepretation of Results, Pre- and Post-Change | Follow up questions, possible next steps |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Part A: Affective Domain | Over all the implementation of the three planned changes led to mostly positive outcomes, but it wasn’t all fruitful. On the positive side, change one – expanding to assess students in all aspects of the program (theory, lab, clinical and internship), allows us to evaluate all students several times in all courses. These focused affective evaluations are giving us the ability to track a student’s behaviors and give frequent feedback/ coaching to allow them to understand where improvements must be made. It also allows us the ability to use the behavioral tracking when students must be placed on a PIP. Additionally, by implementing a new rubric that exclusively focuses on affective traits, we have seen improvement with scoring students and being able to clearly articulate where students need to work on making improvements. We believe that these improved scores allow our faculty to state whether a student is affectively prepared for field work or not and confidently use the evaluations to support our assertions. Finally, our third change is where we see the mixed results. On the one hand, adding a rubric into our Brightspace shells was wonderful in aiding with faculty buy-in, simplicity with completion (no more paper forms that required manual grade entry, scanning and transfer to SharePoint for long term storage), and lower duplication expenses. However, there was one dark spot with this change. Unfortunately, we have found that all rubrics must be downloaded individually from Brightspace, and these downloads can only be done when the course shell is still active. This has proven to be much more time consuming that anticipated and we feel that we need to alter the medium from the rubric in Brightspace to a fillable Word or PDF document. This will require a return to manual grade entry, but that is a small price to pay for ensuring we have can maintain proper records for future accreditation or other record keeping needs. | Need to review and update outcomes. | |
| 2. This coursework prepares the student to be able to: | N/A | ||
| 3. Be a role model of exemplary professional behavior including: but not limited to, integrity, empathy, self-motivation, appearance/personal hygiene, self-confidence, communications, time management, teamwork/ diplomacy, respect, patient advocacy, and careful delivery of service. (Professionalism) | The data shows that most students are still meeting the minimum score (17/24) on the new rubric. Leading us to determine that most of our students are affectively prepared to be entry-level EMS practitioners. The new rubric took the score for the outcome and spread it across the entirety of the assessment, the scoring moved from a single data point score (0-4 points) to a global assessment score (0-2 points) and decreased the ambiguity of the scoring. Despite this necessary alteration, we have seen negligible change to students’ scores in this area. We have also found that with the new rubric spreading the affective behaviors to individually scored items, we are receiving better feedback to drive our student counseling and coaching. This gives us the opportunity to more clearly direct our students on improving their performance in the affective domain. | Need to review an update outcome. | |
| 4. Preparedness: the student consistently arrived on time with required materials and was ready to learn. Professional appearance: the student is dressed appropriately and is neat in appearance. No hygiene issues. | The data shows students are arriving to class prepared for the day with little to no problems. It also shows that faculty are consistent in their grading of a student’s preparedness for class. The anomaly seen in round one is felt to have been the narrow focus of the old rubric. By spreading the scoring for this outcome over three categories on the new rubric – self-motivation, accountability, and appearance/ personal hygiene, and moving from a five-point system (0-4 points) to a three-point system (0–2), allows for decreased ambiguity and lower chances of subjectiveness in grading. Giving us improved focus for our student feedback to drive counseling and coaching. Allowing for clearer direction of our student and improved performance in the affective domain. | Outcomes need to be reviewed and updated | |
| 5. Initiative: student demonstrates interest in EMS through actions and interactions with evaluator. | The data shows that students are interacting properly and effectively showing their interest in becoming EMS professionals. Moving to evaluating this outcome using six data points – integrity, accountability, respect, self-motivation, self-confidence, and communication provided a clearer picture of a student’s overall performance on this outcome that a single point did not historically yield. Additionally, the move from a five-point system (0-4) to a three-point system (0-2) decreases ambiguity and reduces subjectiveness in grading. Giving us improved focus for our student feedback to drive counseling and coaching. This gives us the opportunity to more clearly direct our students on improving their performance in the affective domain. | Outcomes need to be reviewed and updated. | |
| 6. Conduct: Student interacts with other in a respectful and empathetic manner. Demonstrates respectability and professional ethics. | The data shows that students routinely conduct themselves with respect, empathy, and professional ethics during class and clinical rotations. As with other outcomes, the implementation of a new rubric required altering which data points were used to score each outcome. In this case, the decision was made to use a total rubric score that assessed every aspect of affective behavior to grade a student. Additionally, the alteration of the scoring system from a five-point (0-4) to a three-point (0-2) diminished the potential for ambiguity and reduced the potential for subjectivity in grading. Thereby keeping the objective lens in our affective evaluations. Ultimately, we have found that with the new rubric spreading the affective behaviors to individually scored items, we are receiving better feedback to drive our student counseling and coaching. This gives us the opportunity to more clearly direct our students on improving their performance in the affective domain. | Outcomes need to be reviewed and updated. | |
| 7. Careful Delivery of Service: Student follows policies, procedures & protocols. Uses appropriate safeguards in the performance of duties | The data shows that a majority of students consistently follow program policies/ procedures and conduct their care in a professional manner during class and clinical rotations. As with other outcomes, the implementation of a new rubric required altering which data points were used to score each outcome. In this case, the decision was made to move from a single data point to the use of eleven criteria – integrity, compassion, accountability, respect, empathy, self-motivation, self-confidence, communication, teamwork/diplomacy, patient advocacy, and cultural competence to grade students on this outcome. Additionally, the alteration of the scoring system from a five-point (0-4) to a three-point (0-2) diminished the potential for ambiguity and reduced the potential for subjectivity in grading. Thereby keeping the objective lens in our affective evaluations. Ultimately, we have found that with the new rubric spreading the affective behaviors to individually scored items, we are receiving better feedback to drive our student counseling and coaching. This gives us the opportunity to more clearly direct our students on improving their performance in the affective domain. | Outcomes need to be reviewed and updated. | |
| 30. Meet or Exceed the Joint Organization on EMS Education Standard : Final Skills and Assessment Testing (>70%) Retention (>70%) | In spring 25, we retained 94.8% of our paramedic students. Unfortunately, in spring term, we saw three students exit the program during the term for personal/ financial reasons. We also saw six students’ attrition out due to academic performance (three failed courses after exiting late in the term for personal/ financial reasons) the remaining three failed multiple courses. In summer 25, we retained 80.9% of our paramedic students through the term. We lost three students to academic failure and one student to a policy violation by mid-term. We attritioned another five students at the end of the term due to academic failures. Thankfully, of the twelve academically exited students form the past two terms, five have or will be returning to the program to complete their Paramedic education. The remaining seven students decided that Paramedicine was not the career for them and opted to pursue other career pathways. | Continue working to reduce attrition. | |
| 31. Meet or Exceed the NM EMS Bureau Standard: NREMT Written and Practical Exam > 70% Grads Passing | All twelve graduates in the spring term successfully passed the NREMT exam. Eleven passed on the first attempt (91.6% first time pass rate) and one passed on the second attempt. These outcomes are well above the minimum standards set by our national and state accrediting agencies. | N/A | |
| 32. CNM Standard: Retention (>75%) | Over the past two terms, we have met the minimum retention standard. In spring 25, we retained 94.8% of our paramedic students and in summer 25, we retained 80.9% of our paramedic students through the term. | Continue working to reduce attrition. | |
| 33. EMS Program Standards:Student success (>70% C-pass rate of students who were enrolled in the class at census and remain on last day) | In spring 25, 76.9% of our paramedic students passed their courses with a C or higher. Unfortunately, in summer 25, that percentage dropped to 57.1%. At the risk of sounding like we are making excuses, we have seen two significant problems over the past couple of years. 1. A significant number of students that are underprepared or unprepared for the rigors of Paramedic training. 2. We have been significantly understaffed, for most of the past two years and the faculty have consistently taken on overloads to keep the program running. Therefore, they are exhausted and have difficulty consistently going the extra mile for the students. | Continue working to reduce attrition and improve pass rates. | |
| 34. Course Final pass rate (>80% of students score 70% or better on written final exam) | In spring 25, 76.9% of our paramedic students passed their courses with a C or higher. Unfortunately, in summer 25, that percentage dropped to 57.1%. At the risk of sounding like we are making excuses, we have seen two significant problems over the past couple of years. 1. A significant number of students that are underprepared or unprepared for the rigors of Paramedic training. 2. We have been significantly understaffed, for most of the past two years and the faculty have consistently taken on overloads to keep the program running. Therefore, they are exhausted and have difficulty consistently going the extra mile for the students. | Continue working to reduce attrition and increase success rates. |
Describe any change in student achievement observed as part of this assessment process, and what led to those changes.
Yes, we found that by increasing the number and focus of affective evaluations, students were more self-aware of their behavior and tended to correct borderline or inappropriate behaviors before an instructor needed to step in. Additionally, the changes gave my team the data needed to focus our coaching of potentially problematic behaviors before they became a problem. Between the improved self-awareness and focused coaching, we were able to salvage students that would have historically exited from training. By retaining these students, we were able to keep them moving toward becoming well rounded EMS professionals and graduating to gain employment in industry.
Describe long-term changes in the program(s) that the assessment process led to, and what motivated those changes?
Yes, we have made a few lasting changes. We recognized that our previous affective rubric was utterly inadequate in evaluating a student’s affective performance. Therefore, we have adopted and will continue to utilize a new affective domain rubric that allows us to evaluate students on twelve specific affective traits. Giving my team a clear snapshot of the student’s current performance at any given time. Additionally, because some students behave differently in classes with different faculty, we noted that we were not getting a full portrayal of the student’s affective performance in the program. Therefore, we implemented affective evaluations into all theory courses. Finally, we increased the number of times students are evaluated each term in the program. While it may seem excessive, we found that by evaluating a student between ten and fifteen times a term, spread across the four to seven courses a student attends each term, allowed us to take those snapshots and construct a clear picture of the students overall affective behavior and performance in the program.
What did you learn about the teaching and learning of "Practicing Community" in your programs?
Over the past two years, my team has learned several things regarding the universal theme, “Practicing Community” as it relates to our student’s affective performance in the Paramedic program. First, considering EMS professionals are given significant public trust, we found that the assessment tool we were using was woefully inadequate in evaluating a student’s true affective performance. Therefore, we adopted a new evaluation tool that allows us to focus directly on a student’s affective traits. With the implementation of the new rubric, we are assessing, tracking, and coaching students on twelve affective traits necessary in EMS professionals - integrity, compassion, accountability, respect, empathy, self-motivation, appearance and personal hygiene, self-confidence, communication, teamwork/ diplomacy, patient advocacy, and cultural competence. Next, we noted that some students tended to let their professional behavior diminish in classes where affective evaluations were not performed. Consequently, we determined the need to ensure students were evaluated in all courses and aspects of the program (theory, lab, clinical and field). This has assisted in curbing unprofessional behaviors and increased students’ performance in effective communication, accountability, and increased cultural competence. Additionally, we have learned that by streamlining the grading system for the rubric, there is less ambiguity, allowing for the evaluations to remain objective across classes and the Paramedic program. Finally, we learned that by evaluating a student several time per course, we were able to use those snapshots to build a portrait of the students overall affective performance in the program. Through this evaluation experience, my faculty have learned that we have the power to make positive changes, hold students accountable, and ensure that when a student graduates, we can confidently say that the student is prepared to enter the EMS industry and handle the honor of public trust.
Describe any external factors affecting the program or affecting assessment of the program.
During the past two years, we have not found any external factors that affected our program or the assessment process.