Running head: ASSESSMENT PLAN

Assessment Plan
OVPSA
FFP
Carine Verlin
Wright State University
SAA7640
Dr. Tammy Kahrig

ASSESSMENT PLAN: FFP

The Friendship Food Pantry (FFP) is a free resource for Wright State students who
experience food insecurity. According to a study published by the Journal of Nutrition
Education and Behavior, food insecurity is the limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally
adequate and safe foods, and limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially
acceptable ways (Tortora, 2014). When students experience food insecurity, they usually face
other challenges such as health and mental issues, low income, food stamp ineligibility,
unemployment, and the high cost of college education.
Being able to have enough nutritional food is fundamental in the lives of students. When
this basic need is not met, it can have a serious impact on student success and wellbeing.
Students may perform poorly academically and socially, and as a result, may not complete their
education. When institutions implement programs that address food insecurity, students perform
better, which result in higher retention and completion rates among students.
In 2009, after launching a campus survey that revealed that 48 percent of Wright State
students were experiencing food insecurity, the FFP was created. It has for mission to provide
emergency food and referrals to students in times of need, helping them to stay in school and
meet their educational goals. The goals of the FFP are to provide opportunities of volunteerism,
to develop new knowledge in regard to food insecurity, to improve service orientation, to connect
with peers from diverse cultures and background, to build organizational and customer services
skills, and to address a community need.
The FFP administered under the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs is led by
a graduate assistant who serves as the Food Pantrys coordinator, and is assisted by volunteers.
Each semester about 20 volunteers work at the FFP. Volunteers play a key role in assisting the
FFP to achieve its mission and goals. Their tasks vary greatly: welcoming students; measuring

ASSESSMENT PLAN: FFP

clients tracking; serving clients; providing campus and community resources; sorting,
organizing, and stocking food items; and receiving, weighting, and documenting donations.
Without the volunteers, the FFP will not be able to sustain or even exist. However, while they
are a main component of the success of the FFP, as today, not intensive assessments are
implemented to learn more about this population, their job duties, their motivation, and their
experience as a volunteer at the FFP. No instruments are used to measure if the goals and
mission of the food pantry has been reached or not.
This assessment plan would have the purpose to fill out this gap. For instance, measuring
volunteer participation to keep track at who is volunteering at the FFP would provide data that
would be valuable for several reasons. One could be that when the FFP plan to hire more
volunteers, the information collected through the Volunteer Participation Form would be an
assistance on where to target to hire new volunteers. For example, if the data indicates that most
volunteers are students from social work major, the FFP coordinator could inform the social
work department that the FFP is seeking new volunteers. The Volunteer Participation Form
would also include volunteer demographics, how they heard about the FFP, why they would like
to volunteer for the FFP, when and how often they would like to be scheduled as a volunteer, and
last if they have any restrictions that could affect the type of volunteer work such as for instance
the inability to lift heavy weight (See Appendix A for a copy of the Volunteer Participation
Form).
The Volunteer Participation Form would be distributed, completed, and collected during
the orientation and training day.
Additionally, during the semester, an assessment to measure the learning outcome would
be performed through direct observation to identify if the mission of the FFP has been served.

ASSESSMENT PLAN: FFP

The chosen Student Learning Outcome would be:

Students who participate in volunteering for the Friendship Food pantry will be able to
demonstrate three services they provide to students as related to the mission of the FFP.
Then, the learning outcome will be assessed through direct observation at any time during
the first semester of volunteering. In order to consider if the learning outcome would have been
reached, volunteer behaviors would have to perform a minimum of three of the eight behaviors
described below:

Refer clients to campus, and community programs

Check client ID cards and verify student enrollment through WINGS

Interview clients using client intake process

Provide clients with the right amount of food items according to their family size

Connect with peers from different culture, or background

Document, and process food and money donation

Organize items in the shopping and inventory area as necessary.

Develop customer service skills

The student learning outcome would be measured by the FFP coordinator observation.
Volunteers will be assessed individually, and will not be informed in advance of the assessment.
Data collection would then be entered in an Excel Spreadsheet.
The last type of assessment would be a summative evaluation in the form of a
Satisfaction Assessment Survey to assist the FFP in determining if the volunteer experience was
consistent with the FFPs mission, and goals, if the experience as a volunteer was highly
satisfactory, and if it promoted individual and professional growth and learning.

ASSESSMENT PLAN: FFP

Satisfaction assessments are vital to identify the strengths of the program as well as
the areas that would need improvement. Instead of building a new instrument from scratch, a
published survey template that has been slightly modified for the specific needs of the FFP
would be used and copied on the Web-based Qualtrics platform. (See References for the original
survey, and here for the updated survey created in Qualtrics: tps://wright.qualtrics.com/SE/?
SID=SV_6spqgsU8Fz6FxVr ).
The Satisfaction Assessment Survey is a mixed-method of quantitative and qualitative
instruments. It includes 22 open-ended questions using a four or a six point Likert scale, and
three open-ended questions to offer opportunity to volunteers to explain their experience in their
own words. The survey would be completed at the end of the volunteering experience, using the
Web-based Qualtrics platform available to all Wright State students, staff, and faculty members.
Volunteers would have one week to finish the survey, and for those who would completed it, as
an intensive, they would receive a $5 gift card from a local store.
Two methods will assist in the data collection. The first one would be to use existing data
sources available in the office of Institutional Research. With the UID, this department is able to
provide the demographic information for staff, faculty and students. This existing data is already
entered in an excel spreadsheet. However, if volunteers are not affiliated with Wright State
University such information would not be accessible which is the reason why the Volunteer
Participation Form would still need to request this vital information for each volunteer.
The second way to collect data would be to recruit new volunteers through the FFP web
page, Facebook page, and Wings announcement. After being selected, future volunteers would
be required to participate in a volunteer training and orientation session in which they will
complete the Volunteer Participation Form. The sample of students would be specifically chosen

ASSESSMENT PLAN: FFP

based on the student willingness to serve the Friendship Food Pantry which is called a
purposing sample. Data from the Volunteer Participation Form would be then entered in an
Excel Spreadsheet.
Before implemented the three type of assessments, the FFP coordinator would meet with
the FFP advisory board members to pilot test the instruments to see if errors had occurred and if
adjustments would need to be performed. The advisory board members includes the FFP
administrator, the FFP coordinator, staff and faculty members, and volunteers. Since the
members of this test group are heterogeneous, they can provide a very diverse approach, and
perspective in reviewing the instruments.
The next step after collecting the data, would be to analyze it. The variables and the
volunteer data recorded through the Volunteer Participation Form, the Student Learning
Outcome observation measurement, and the Volunteer Satisfaction Survey would need to be
entered in a separate excel spreadsheet. The different variables will form the columns, and the
volunteer data will be entered in the rows. For the results of the learning outcome, even if the
measurement was made through observation, the same process will be done since the chosen
variables would be the eight pre-established behaviors selected as a reference for measuring if
the learning outcome had been reached or not.
For the satisfaction Survey, since it was created using the Web-based Qualtrics platform,
there will be no need to transfer all the data; Qualtrics offers the option to calculate the
percentage of each variables. However, the part of the instrument that used a qualitative
approach (the last three questions of the instrument) would also still need to be entered in an
excel spreadsheet.

ASSESSMENT PLAN: FFP

After entering all the data for the three different instruments, the researcher would
need to read through it, clean it (looking for errors, missing data, and scale consistency), and
create a coding method that would be formed based on the assessment objectives. The coding
process will take longer for the open-ended questions than for the closed-ended questions since
the researcher would need to create categories, recognize the connections between them, and
bring together all data that are supported by each categories.
In the Volunteer Participation Form, the three questions that would be qualified as openended questions are:

How did you hear about the WSU Friendship Food Pantry?

Why would you like to volunteer to the Friendship Food Pantry?

Please indicate any restrictions you may have that would affect the type of
volunteer work you could do (i.e., inability to lift heavy boxes)

In the Volunteer Satisfaction Survey, the three questions that would be qualified as openended questions are:

List 3 things we can improve on to make the volunteer experience more

enjoyable?

What did you enjoy most about volunteering with the FFP?

Additional Comments

As an example, for the question How did you hear about the WSU Friendship Food
Pantry? some examples of categories that could be created are: people, online marketing, and
print marketing. Under people, examples of data collected could be: peer, staff, faculty,
family...etc.

ASSESSMENT PLAN: FFP

Under Online marketing, examples of data collected could be: Facebook, Instagram, FFP
Website, Twitter, Wingsetc.
Under print marketing, examples of data collected could be: flyer, brochure, postcard, and
bulletin board.
What is important here is to stay consistent in the selection of themes, and categories.
After being done with the coding and the selection of categories, the next step would be
to calculate the percentage of all the variables from each three instruments. A visual
representation such as a table, a chart, a graph or a pie could be added to expose the data in a
different light, and to facilitate its meaning.
The last step of analyzing the data would be to interpret it. Interpreting the data would
determine if the organization is doing what it is supposed to do, and if changes need to be
performed. It will answer some questions such as, who are the people who decide to become
volunteers at the FFP? What experiences did they gain from working at the FFP? Was their
experience satisfied? Are the mission and goals of the FFP accomplished?
Recently assessment became more important and even vital in the world of student affairs
professionals. With the rising cost of education, and the increase of students programs, activities,
and organizations, public demands for accountability have increased, and more questions arise
regarding the quality of services and resources provided to students ((Schuh & Upcraft, 2000).
Since Student affairs professionals affirm that learning, and development does not just
happen during class but outside of class as well, they have to give evidence of their assertion.
They have to be able to demonstrate that they are doing what they are supposed to, and that their
work promote student learning and growth (Schuh, 2009). One way to demonstrate if students
are learning what their institution, department or organization said they are, is through

ASSESSMENT PLAN: FFP

assessment. However, while professionals are asked more and more to prove that their
work is central to student success, professionals do not always have the time, the right
knowledge, or the resources to conduct an assessment plan ((Schuh & Upcraft, 2000).
When measuring student satisfaction, it is essential to point out that satisfaction or a lack
of it does not necessary mean that the educational practices are good (Schuh & Upcraft, 2000).
Plus, just learning that students are satisfied with their experience is not enough and does not
give a whole picture. Rather, concluding that students are satisfied with their experience, and that
those experiences are consistent with the mission and goals of the organization will provide a
much better understanding of students experience on campus ((Schuh & Upcraft, 2000).
In relation to the FFP, measuring participation, a learning outcome, and volunteer
satisfaction will provide a complete picture to recognize if the program is doing what it is
supposed to do, if it is in alignment with its mission, and goals, and if not it will offer
opportunities to change or improve it.
As I stated in the introduction of this assessment plan, the FFP is administered under the
Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs. While the FFP coordinator is in charge of
managing the food pantry, he/she answers to Simone Polk, the assistant Vice President for
Student Services who in return is reporting to the Vice President of Student Affairs, Dan
Abrahamowicz. The board of trustee as well as the FFP advisory board members have also an
interest in knowing if the food pantry is serving student needs, and if it fulfills its mission and
goals. Every decision regarding the food pantry need to be justify, and explain. Assessing the
FFP volunteers who serve students in need will greatly assist the FFP coordinator during
meetings, and presentations when it is time to defend the reasons of the existence of the FFP to
the stakeholders.

ASSESSMENT PLAN: FFP

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The assessment results would be included in the annual report, and to make it easy
for everybody to understand, visual representations of what is important to retain would be
added. It will served several purposes: (1) to give an opportunity for stakeholders to have a
better understanding of what the FFP is offering to the Wright State Community (2) to offer a
chance for stakeholders to provide constructive feedbacks, and (3) to improve or modify aspects
of the program if needed.

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References
Schuh, J.H and Associates. (2009). Assessment methods for student affairs. San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass.
Schuh, J.H Schuh, J.H., & Upcraft, M.L. (2000). Assessment practice in student affairs. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
FoxNews (2014). Is food insecurity on the rise among college students? Retrieved from
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2014/02/14/is-food-insecurity-on-rise-among-collegestudents.html
Volunteer Survey Template Retrieved from:
https://www.serviceleader.org/sites/default/files/file/19%20Volunteer%20Satisfaction
%20Survey%20Template.pdf

ASSESSMENT PLAN: FFP

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Appendix A: Volunteer Participation Form

Friendship Food Pantry

Wright State University

Volunteer Participation Form

Name (First, Middle, & Last)

Date of Birth

Email

Best Phone number to reach

you

Circle the one that best describe your situation:

What is your sex? Male or Female
Are you a WSU student? Yes/No

If yes, respond to questions 1 to 6.

1. Enter your UID: ___________________

2. Are you a Part-Time or a Full-Time Student?
3. Are you a Domestic or an International student?
4. Do you live on campus or off campus?
5. Are you a Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior, or a Graduate Student?
6. What is your major?
Are you a WSU Faculty? Yes/No
Are you a WSU staff? Yes/No
What is your cultural/racial background?
African American/Black

Asian American/ Pacific Islander

Hispanic American/ Latino

Native American

Other Asian

White/Caucasian

Have you ever volunteered at the friendship food pantry before? Yes/No
How did you hear about the WSU Student Food Pantry?
______________________________________________
Why would you like to volunteer to the Friendship Food Pantry?
____________________________________________________

Other

ASSESSMENT PLAN: FFP

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Please provide your availability for the current term. (Take in consideration current
opening hours, listed below.)
Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Spring 2015 Friendship Food Pantry Open Hours:

Mondays 11am-3pm
Thursdays 10am-2pm
Please indicate the frequency in which you would like to volunteer:
Once a Week

Twice a Week

Once a Month

Twice a Month

Please indicate any restrictions you may have that would affect the type of volunteer work you
could do (i.e., inability to lift heavy
boxes):_____________________________________________________________________