Glossary of Terms Specific to Evergreen, Assessment, and Institutional Research
The following are terms often used in describing teaching and learning at Evergreen and in reporting of student demographics and institutional characteristics.
Note: if you are using Netscape and have followed a link to a particular word, it may not have taken you to the definition. We apologize for any inconvenience.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Academic Advising
A student support service available in the Student Advising Center and through Prime Time advising located in campus housing. Academic Advising offers up-to-date information on internships, academic programs, faculty, and academic services. Advisors provide valuable advice for planning your education.
Accreditation
A process of recognizing educational institutions for meeting standards of performance, integrity, and quality. In the United States, regional accreditation is administered by nongovernmental, voluntary institutional or professional associations. The Evergreen State College is accredited by the Commission on Colleges and Universities of the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges.
All-Level Programs
Programs that allow freshmen to work alongside sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Faculty intentionally reserve a specific number of spaces in the program for first-year students.
Assessment
Systematic gathering of information (and acting upon that information) for purposes of improving the learning and the teaching in educational settings.
Collaborative Learning
A variety of educational approaches involving joint intellectual effort by students or students and teachers together; usually in groups of two or more students mutually search for understanding, meaning, solutions, or in the creation of a product.
Consortium (pl. Consortia)
An association between institutions based on similarities and/or common interests. See the links page for more information about Evergreen's involvement in particular consortia.
Coordinated Study Programs
A learning community model using a team-taught, multidisciplinary program of study. Students and a team of faculty drawn from different disciplines use a block of time (from 1 to 3 quarters) to examine a central theme. Within a program, learning activities can take a variety of formats including lecture, lab, workshop, seminar, field trips, etc.
Core Programs
Coordinated study programs for first-year students.
Courses
Part-time courses, offered for 2,4, or 6 credits, that supplement the main curriculum. They can be combined with coordinated study programs, individual learning contacts, and internships.
Deep Learning
An approach to learning where the student intends to understand ideas for himself or herself. The student learns by actively transforming.
DTF (Disappearing Task Force)
A collaborative work group created to study various topics and make recommendations to the campus community. The group disbands when the group's work is done. Several DTFs are active each academic year, and students are encouraged to participate.
Evergreen Social Contract
Written by founding faculty members, the Social Contract contains guidelines for social ethics and working together that help Evergreen function as a community.
Expectations of an Evergreen Graduate
A set of broad standards that Evergreen students are expected to have accomplished by the time they have earned an Evergreen degree. The Expectations of an Evergreen Graduate are used to assess student learning (see Learning Section of the Teaching and Learning report).
First-Time, First-Year Students
First college attendance since high school graduation. Includes students with college credits earned prior to high school graduation, such as Running Start, Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), and College in the High School.
The Five Foci
The five underlying principles of the Evergreen educational experience: Interdisciplinary Study, Collaborative Learning, Learning Across Significant Differences, Personal Engagement, Linking Theory with Practical Application. Read more about the The Five Foci.
FTE(Full-Time Equivalency)
Refers to either faculty or student load, and is used to calculate enrollment and budget figures. One FTE represents a full-time unit load. Per State of Washington standards, one undergraduate FTE = 15 credits per quarter; one graduate FTE = 10 credits per quarter.
Full-time Student
A full-time undergraduate student is enrolled in 12-20 credits per quarter in any combination of programs, courses, contracts, or internships. (Full-time students are not limited to those students enrolled in the full-time curriculum.)
A full-time graduate student is enrolled in 10-16 credits per quarter.
Group Contract
An Evergreen program (usually advanced) with one or two faculty and a focused theme or problem to investigate. More narrowly focused than Coordinated Study programs.
Higher Education Coordinating Board (HECB)
A state agency governed by a 10-member citizen board that is charged by state law to represent the broad public interest in higher education. The following link leads outside of this site to the HECB website.
Individual Learning Contract
An individual study plan initiated by a student and sponsored by a faculty member. Information about individual learning contracts can be found at Academic Advising.
Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS)
A system of surveys to gather information from all institutions and educational organizations whose primary purpose is to provide post secondary education. Data includes information about enrollments, program completions, faculty, staff, and finances. The surveys are administered by the National Center for Educational Statistics.
Internship
Supervised experience in a work situation for which a student receives academic credit. Internships require advanced planning through Academic Advising and a faculty sponsor.
Learning Community
A purposeful structuring of curriculum to link together coursework so that students find greater coherence in what they are learning and greater interaction with faculty and peers.
Liberal Arts, Four main divisions
The four main divisions customarily used to define the substance of liberal arts are: the Arts, the Sciences, the Humanities, and the Social Sciences.
Narrative Evaluation
Evergreen's grading system consists of a narrative evaluation of a student's academic work at the end of each quarter. Faculty members write evaluations of each student's work and progress, and each student writes a self-evaluation. These become official documents, making up the permanent transcript. Students also write evaluations of faculty members, which become part of the faculty member's official portfolio.
Non-Resident Alien
A person who is not a citizen or national of the United States and who is in this country on a visa or temporary basis and does not have the right to remain indefinitely.
Part-time Student
A part-time undergraduate student is enrolled in less than 12 credits per quarter, in any combination of programs, courses, contracts, or internships. Part-time students are not limited to those students enrolled in Evening/Weekend Studies offerings.
A part-time graduate student is enrolled in less than 10 credits per quarter.
Persistence
Refers to a student's continued enrollment in college beyond any particular term.
Planning Unit
Faculty affiliations for the purposes of curricular planning. Planning units include: Culture, Text and Language; Environmental Studies; Evening and Weekend Studies; Expressive Arts; Native American and World Indigenous Peoples; Scientific Inquiry; Society, Politics, Behavior and Change; and Tacoma.
Regular Students
Students admitted to the college and assumed to be pursuing a degree; also referred to as matriculated or degree-seeking students.
Retention
Refers to a student's persistence at Evergreen from one term to another. Often calculated as a fall quarter to fall quarter measurement, i.e. of students enrolled in a particular fall quarter how many are still enrolled the subsequent fall.
Returning Greener
A new Evergreen student who previously attended The Evergreen State College.
Seminars
A central experience of an Evergreen education. In a seminar, a faculty member and up to 25 students meet to discuss and analyze assigned readings and other program work.
SOS (Student Originated Studies)
Refers to academic programs that are based on group projects developed by students.
Specials
Students that have not been formally admitted to the college and are enrolled in a maximum of 8 credits per quarter; also referred to as non-degree seeking or non-matriculated students.
SPSS
SPSS or Statistical Package for Social Sciences is a software program used for statistical analysis.
Student Self-Evaluation
Students' evaluations of their academic work as measured against their objectives for the quarter and the requirements of their program, course, contract, or internship. Self-evaluations are part of students' formal academic records.
Summative Self-Evaluation
A final evaluation written by a senior that provides a summary and overview of his or her undergraduate educational experience. Faculty encourage and support it.
Surface Learning
An approach to learning where the student intends merely to cope with course requirements in a minimalist fashion. Such a student learns by passively reproducing.
Tribal Reservation Based/Community-Determined Program
Coordinated studies program primarily designed for upper-division students. The Tribal Program emphasizes community building within Native American communities. There are five sites at different reservations in Washington State.