The Outcomes Assessment Plan is a document that will identify a course, unit, or program's outcomes and assessment activities, results, and planning. Until TracDat (the college's website for program planning and review, which includes outcomes assessment information) is functional this paper documentation will be required. After TracDat is in place a department or program may wish to continue to use this document internally for ease of communication prior to uploading information into TracDat.

Implementing the Outcomes Assessment Process requires a plan that explains what will be measured, how it will be measured, when assessment will occur, who is responsible for assessment activities, and how the assessment information will be used. Having a written plan in place helps keep everyone on the same page, ensures that the program can be continued if a key individual leaves, and documents the nature of the assessment program for outside agencies (licensing boards, state or federal agencies, and accrediting organizations).

The following outline provides the key components of a program's outcomes assessment plan. The process is intentionally shown as circulatory, in order to evoke the idea of continual improvement.

1. Identify the outcomes: Obtain consensus about the essential outcomes (varies from instructional to services) for a course/program/unit. Share these outcomes with stakeholders.
2. Determine a common assessment: Obtain consensus about the assessment tool or task - what, who, when, where, and how.
3. Establish the expected level of achievement: Calculate the anticipated success for this assessment. This should be based on previous assessment data if it exists.
4. Analyze the data: Collect and record aggregated data from the assessment. Constituency groups will analyze and evaluate this information to ascertain what is going well and what could be improved upon based on the outcome noted.
5. Develop a plan: This means using the results of an outcome's assessment project to improve whatever it was that was being assessed. Thus it is vital that the discipline/program use this data to celebrate and build on its strengths and to remediate its weaknesses.