Student Learning Outcomes for English Majors in the Bachelor of Arts Program at Kansas State University
[Approved 9/24/03, revision approved 12/08; revision approved 11/16/11; revision approved 5/7/14; revision approved 1/29/15]
The English Department at Kansas State University is an academic community of professors and students who are committed to creative and analytical work in English, and dedicated to the primary goals of a liberal education: the ability to reason well, to think critically, to communicate effectively, and to appreciate excellent writing and thinking.
Upon completion of the Bachelor of Arts degree, English majors should be able to do the following:
- Generate a close reading of a text: recognize, understand, and explain a text's elements—for example, word choice, imagery, form, and connotations.
- Draw on relevant cultural and historical information to analyze and interpret a literary text.
- Demonstrate familiarity with literary traditions pre- and post-1800, including prominent authors, genres, literary movements, and styles.
- Analyze underrepresented experiences and cultural diversity, including issues of race, gender, class, sexuality, and ethnicity, through the study of ethnic minority or non-Western texts.
- Research and write focused, convincing analytical essays in clear, grammatical prose.
- Demonstrate integrative and independent thinking, originality, imagination, experimentation, problem solving, or risk taking in thought, expression, or intellectual engagement.
- Tailor writing for various audiences and purposes.
- Participate in discussions by listening to others' perspectives, asking productive questions, and articulating original ideas.
Assessment for Academic Year 2025-26
In 2025-2026, the English Department assessed Outcome # 6: “Demonstrate integrative and independent thinking, originality, imagination, experimentation, problem solving, or risk taking in thought, expression, or intellectual engagement,” and Outcome # 7: “Tailor writing for various audiences and purposes.” Faculty directly assessed these outcomes in a 300-level literature Shakespeare course, a 300-level course on “Fable and Fantasy,” a 600-level advanced fiction writing course, and in a 600-level course on Nineteenth-Century American Literature and Culture.
For Outcome #6, 96% of the total number of students assessed for this outcome met minimum expectations. 77% of the total number of assessed students met advanced expectations. 37% met exemplary expectations. Indirect assessment: In Fall 2025, 1 of 1 graduating seniors (100%) participated in an exit interview, awarding a 5 on a 1-5 scale for this outcome. In Spring 2026, 10 of 15 graduating majors and minors (66%) participated in exit interviews. Of the seniors who were interviewed, 7 (70%) awarded a 5 on a 1-5 scale in association with Outcome # 5, while 3 (30%) awarded a 4.
For Outcome #7, 89% of the total number of assessed students met minimum expectations for Outcome #5. 78% met advanced expectations. 37% met exemplary expectations. Indirect assessment: In Fall 2025, 1 of 1 graduating seniors (100%) participated in an exit interview, awarding a 3 on a 1-5 scale for this outcome, offering that if they had taken creative writing or professional writing courses, they would “feel more confident.” Elsewhere, however, this student described successfully completing an internship where they relied on writing skills and also offered the following: “Writing is a skill that you’d need no matter what—and you need to know how to talk about your writing and be able to pitch yourself.”
In Spring 2026, 10 of 15 graduating majors and minors (66%) participated in exit interviews. Of those students, 4 (40%) awarded a 5 on a 1-5 scale in association with Outcome # 7, while 6 (60%) awarded a 4 in connection with this outcome.
As a department, we feel that our current outcomes satisfactorily identify the essential skills and knowledge that our majors should obtain in the completion of their degree. As the instructor for ENGL 645 noted of Outcome # 7, “I love this SLO. …it’s something we teach well across our curriculum, and …it’s a skill that is highly valued, in work, in civic life, and even in our personal or private lives. …This is a core learning value for us.”
Our assessment for 2025-2026 included courses from multiple concentrations within the major, including creative writing, literature, and cultural studies. The literature courses included British and American literature spanning centuries as well as more contemporary genre fiction. These courses were drawn from our 300-level offerings (typically including students who are freshmen and sophomores) as well as our 600-level (typically juniors and seniors).
In 2026-2027, we will continue to assess Outcome # 7, “Tailor writing for various audiences and purposes” (2025-2027). We will also begin a new three-year cycle of assessing Outcome # 8, “Participate in discussions by listening to others’ perspectives, asking productive questions, and articulating original ideas” (2026-2029)
Alignment Matrices
English Major: Literature Track
English Major: Creative Writing Track
English Major: Literature / Teaching Certification
English Minor: Children's and Young Adult Literature and Culture
Student Learning Outcomes for the Master of Arts Program in English at Kansas State University
The Master of Arts Program in English at Kansas State University is an academic community of professors and graduate students who are intellectually engaged, committed to creative and critical work in English, and dedicated to advanced research in the discipline as well as the primary goals of a liberal education: the ability to reason, think critically, communicate effectively, and appreciate excellent writing and thinking.
The Program values:
- Critical writing, carefully honed and revised, informed by current research in the problem or field, and aware of its own critical assumptions
- Creative work, carefully honed and revised, informed by the reading of other writers, including contemporary authors, and aware of its own exigence and aims
- Careful explication of texts
- Breadth of reading and breadth of historical and cultural knowledge
- Critical engagement with expressions of cultural diversity and underrepresented experiences
- Collaborative, interactive, and meaningful learning and instruction
It is the expectation of the Program that its students will join this academic community and share these intellectual and disciplinary values. Though no specific pieces of knowledge can define the Master of Arts in English for every student, upon completion of the Master of Arts degree, graduate students in English are expected to demonstrate the ability to do the following:
- Read carefully, with historical and contextual perspective
- Conduct research within the field of English
- Think analytically and critically about literature and language
- Recognize and analyze the perspectives and assumptions that they and other readers and critics bring to texts and interpretations
- Write well, with an understanding of audience and purpose
- Exhibit substantial knowledge about literature and language in the context of specialization
- Demonstrate integrative and independent thinking, originality, imagination, experimentation, problem solving, or risk taking in thought, expression, or intellectual engagement
Mid-Cycle Graduate Program Review 2009-13
During the evaluation period (2009-2013), assessment data was collected for 104 M.A. students. Faculty evaluated student performance through the Oral Exam rubric, which assesses the M. A. Program’s seven student learning outcomes. In addition, each student’s Major Professor completed a “Final Writing Project or Thesis Oral Examination Report,” which offers a descriptive summary of the student’s accomplishments of our learning outcomes, along with specific consideration of two of our SLOs. Results demonstrated that the vast majority of students met or exceeded proficiency for each learning outcome. Particularly strong results were recorded for SLO 2, “Conduct Research within the Field of English” and SLO 7, “Demonstrate Integrative and Independent Thinking, Originality, Imagination, Experimentation, Problem-Solving, or Risk Taking.”