Accountability	Involves data collection for external audiences (ex. Faculty administrators, students) and deomstrates the effectiveness of programs to services to stakeholders.
Assessment	Assessment is any effort to gather, analyze, review, and use evidence and information regarding the effectivness of programs, with the purpose of improving student learning and development.
Direct Measure of Student Learning	A measure that directly evaluates how well students display knowledge and skills. (ex. A survey question that asks students to define leadership in their own words.)
Evaluation	The use of assessment data to determine organizational effectiveness (Schuh, 2016)
Improvement	Involves data collection for internal audiences (ex. legislators, donors, parents) and aims to improve the quality of the programs and services.
Indirect Measures of Learning	A measure that evaluates percieved, rather than actual, larning (Walvoord, 2004) (ex. A survey question that asks students to rate their understanding oleadership on a scale from 1 - very low understanding to 5 - very high understanding)
Learing Outcome (Outcome Behaviors)	What students should know, think, and be able to do as a result of an experience. (ex. The American of Colleges of Universities (2010) established four learning outcomes for liberal arts education: knowledge of human cultures and the physical and natural worlds; intellectual and practical skills; personal and social responsibility; and integrative and applied learning.
Measurements	The methods used to gather information for the purposes of assessment (Upcraft & Schuh, 2001). (ex. Survey, focus group, interview, portfolio.)
Research	Differs from assessment in that it guides theory development, tests concepts, and has implications that extend beyond a single institution. The role of the research investigator is to describe what has been done. In contrast, assessment guides good practice; its implications can rarely be generalized beyond a single institution; and the assessment investigator's role is not only to describe what has been done but what should be done given the findings of the study (Upcraft & Schuh, 2001).
Rubric	A set of categories that define and describe the important components of the work being assessed. Each category contains a gradation of levels of completion or competence with a score assigned to each level and a clear description of what criteria need to be met to attain the score at each level (Ozarka College, n.d.)
Sampling	The method by which a pool of participants is selected from the population of interest.
Stakeholder (Audience)	Anyone who has vested interest in our work. (ex. President, Executive Team, Strategic Invesement reviewers, OCHE, NWCCU, Donors, etc)