The psychology department's latest multiple-choice test will assess the department, not the students.

If students score poorly on certain portions of the assessments, the department will think seriously about revising teaching methods in those courses.

Future psychology students might see a different approach to teaching, and any problem areas will be given extra weighting in the curriculum.

The assessment test is mandatory for all declared psychology majors, but they are being instructed not to prepare for the exam because the overall goal is to see if the information sticks with them even when they do not have a book to look back on.

The tests will be given to students within the first two weeks of October and will consist only of multiple-choice and true/false questions.

"The test will cover a breadth of knowledge of the core concepts of psychology," said Professor David Zald, director of the department of psychology. 

These core concepts include the broad domains of psychology, such as neuroscience, social psychology and cognitive psychology, and research methods of psychology relating to quantitative analysis and experimental design.

The evaluation is part of a movement in the university as a whole to define the academic goals of each department and to find ways of assessing whether or not the goals are being met.

This movement came about after the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools began encouraging all of its members to address the self-assessment issue and determine if their overall goals were being met. SACS provides accreditation for universities in the southeast who meet their requirements and expectations.

These assessments are part of a new development for SACS, who instructed the department last fall to take on these evaluations as an extension of the overall idea that there should be some way of assessing a department's progress.

"I personally think SACS will be pleased with the results, but nevertheless it is important for us to show over time that we are doing better," Zald said.

All of the departments at Vanderbilt are handling their individual assessments differently, depending on the goals of the department and the most appropriate way to evaluate success in achieving them.

In the psychology department several assessments are being taken, but only the required multiple-choice test directly affects students.

Most students look at the test in a positive manner.

"I think it is a good idea for the department to try to improve by using this test as an assessment," said psychology major Caroline Cheung.

Faculty members will review honors projects and upper level term papers.

"The faculty members will be evaluating the students' understanding of psychological literature and methods and whether or not their work is presented logically," Zald said.

No student will be directly evaluated, and the scores will have no effect on grades.

 "All papers are de-identified because this is not a student evaluation, this is an evaluation for the faculty to see how we're doing," Zald said.