Assessing ABET Student Outcomes With Enhanced Evidence During Accreditation Changes

Abstract

The U.S. Coast Guard Academy Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering Program is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC) of ABET. For the 2019 ABET general review, the program’s transition to the new ABET Criteria is described. This includes program interpretation of the updated ABET Criteria, specifically Criterion 3, Student Outcomes, and newly revised ABET language and definitions. Concurrently, evidence-based changes were applied to assessment. A performance vector was implemented to categorize the quality of student work as Excellent, Adequate, Marginal or Unsatisfactory (EAMU Vector), both increasing the fidelity of the assessment data and creating meaningful student performance data trends.