Abstract
Academic accreditation criteria require a powerful method to evaluate program outcomes (POs). The most recent studies recommend the use of both direct and indirect assessments to evaluate the actual achievements of POs. This study aimed to provide an easily implemented method based on direct assessment and other integrated variables that reflect the reality of students' achievement of POs. The suggested method, based on weight average equation, was presented and compared with the other two methods. The comparative study was designed on the basis of two steps. First, the results of each method were compared with the result of the general capacity exam, using root mean square error (27 students, male, from level four with 6 courses). The second step was based on statistical analysis (paired t-test) of results from the methods for the same batch of students (from level 3 to level 6, with 22 courses). In the first step, the suggested method resulted in the lowest root mean square error relative to the general capacity exam (9%). In the second step there was a significant difference between the mean of the suggested method and other methods (69.8040 +/- 6.59, P-value < 0.05). The evaluation procedure for POs is an integral component of the education process. Various variables are integrated to reflect the actual achievement of students. The suggested method reflected the reality of PO achievements more accurately than the other methods, which proved sensitivity to the number of course learning outcomes (CLOs).