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DEPARTMENT AND PROGRAM ASSESSMENT GUIDE

Prepared by: Dan Moos College Assessment Director

“Assessment is the process of gathering and discussing information from multiple and diverse sources in order to develop a deep understanding of what students know, understand, and can do with their knowledge as a result of their

educational experiences; the process culminates when assessment results are used to improve subsequent learning.”Mary E. Huba and Jann E. Freed, Learner-Centered Assessment on College Campuses: Shifting the Focus from

Teaching to Learning.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Memorandum: Overview of PALs responsibilities……………………....………………….3

Department And Program Assessment Plan Resources:The Cycle of Inquiry for Assessment of Student Learning.……...……………………..….………….………4

Suggested Timeline …….…………………………………………..…………...…….…………….…...5

Components of a Department Assessment Plan…...………………………………………………………....6

Student Learning Outcomes…………………………………………………………………………….…....7

Institutional Student Learning Outcomes……………………………………………………………………8

Examples of Study Questions………………………………………………………………………………10

Examples of Evidence of Student Learning……………………………………………………………...…11

Evaluating Evidence of Student Learning..……………………...…………………………………….…….12

Annual Report Format……………………………………………………………………………………...13

Resources:“Nine Principles of Good Practice for Assessing Student Learning”………………………………….…….15

“AAHE Principles of Good Practice: Aging Nicely”………………………………………………………17

Essential Learning Outcomes (AAC&U LEAP Initiative)………………………………………………….18

Resources: Books and Webpages……..…………………………………………………………….………19

Joint National Higher Education and Regional Accrediting Commissions Statement:

Principles for Effective Assessment of Student Achievement (2013)………………….…………..20

Higher Learning Commission Statement:Student Learning, Assessment, and Accreditation (2007)………………………………………………...…22

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MEMORANDUM

Dear PAL,

Thank you for serving as the Program Assessment Liaison (PAL) for your academic department and/or program. The primary goal is for each academic department and/or program to assess one or more student learning outcome by gathering and evaluating evidence of student learning.

As PAL, your duties and responsibilities include:• Maintaining department and/or program assessment plan.• Providing guidance and direction to the members of your department and/or program

in implementing the plan.• Collecting and maintaining evidence of student learning.• Overseeing evaluation of evidence through rubrics or other appropriate methods.• Preparing an annual assessment report.

Enclosed is a suggested timeline for assessment of student learning in departments and programs for this academic year.

I will be available at any time for consultation, either with you individually or with your department and/or program, to assist you by providing resources so that your department or program can successfully assess student learning.

Again, thank you for serving the College in this important and vital

role. Yours Sincerely,

Dan MoosCollege Assessment Director

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CYCLE OF INQUIRY FOR ASSESSING STUDENT LEARNING

Assessment Cycle, adapted from Assessing for Learning (2004) by Peggy L. Maki

Gustavus Adolphus College MissionGustavus Adolphus College is a church-related, residential liberal arts college firmly rooted in its Swedish and Lutheran heritage. The College offers students of high aspiration and promise a liberal arts education of recognized excellence provided by faculty who embody the highest standards of teaching and scholarship. The Gustavus curriculum is designed to bring students to mastery of a particular area of study within a general framework that is both interdisciplinary and international in perspective. The College strives to balance educational tradition with innovation and to foster the development of values as an integral part of intellectual growth. It seeks to promote the open exchange of ideas and the independent pursuit of learning. The College aspires to be a community of persons from diverse backgrounds who respect and affirm the dignity of all people. It is a community where a mature understanding of the Christian faith and lives of service are nurtured and students are encouraged to work toward a just and peaceful world. The purpose of a Gustavus education is to help its students attain their full potential as persons, to develop in them a capacity and passion for lifelong learning, and to prepare them for fulfilling lives of leadership and service in society.

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SUGGESTED TIMELINE FOR DEPARTMENT/PROGRAM ASSESSMENTThe PALs assessment process is approximately 1 and ½ years. This process is

designed to accommodate programs/departments that would like to collect information on student learning outcomes over the course of an academic year and then have an opportunity to analyze/discuss the results at the beginning of

the following academic year. There is substantial flexibility in this process, though. While the PALs report is due by October 9th of NEXT year,

departments/programs should adopt a timeline that best meets their needs. The PALs reports can be submitted earlier by those department/programs that

prefer a yearly assessment cycle (as opposed to the longer cycle of approximately 1 and ½ years).

• Review and ReviseSuggested time frame: September - October of this academic yearo Review assessment plan with members of department and/or program; revise as

needed. (See “Components of a Departmental Assessment Plan” on page 6)o Review prior assessment report (Assessment plans and reports are available on the PADC Moodle

page.)

• PlanSuggested time frame: November – December of this academic yearo Collaboratively agree on an area of focus for this academic year.o Formulate a study question. (See “Examples of Study Questions” on page 10)o Align the study question with relevant department/program SLOs or ISLOs. (See “Student Learning Outcomes” on page 7 and “Institutional Student Learning Outcomes on pages 8-9)o Determine direct and indirect evidence to be collected in this academic year See “Examples of

Evidence of Student Learning” on page 11)o Determine methods of evaluating the evidence (See “Evaluating Evidence: Rubrics” on page

12).o Develop a system for storing data collected.

• DoSuggested time frame: S p r i n g s e m e s t e r o f t h i s a c a d e m i c y e a ro Collect evidence of student learning.o Evaluate the evidence of student learning.

• ActSuggested time frame: Spring semester of this academic year OR September/October of the next academic yearo Within department/program, collaboratively discuss the information developed by the assessment process.o Decide if any changes or actions will be taken in the subsequent academic years.o Prepare the annual assessment report and submit it by October 9th of the next academic year

(See “Annual Report Format” on pages 13-14)

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COMPONENTS OF A DEPARTMENTAL ASSESSMENT PLAN

What is our purpose? (Mission Statement)A mission statement is a broad statement describing the department’s purpose and primary functions as well as its stakeholders. The department mission statement aligns with the institutional mission; this alignment should be made explicit in the assessment plan. The mission statement may also include a statement of what makes the department distinctive.General template for a mission statement:The mission of (name) is to (primary purpose) by providing (primary functions) to (stakeholders).

What do we want our students to learn? (Student Learning Outcomes)Student learning outcomes describe what students will know or be able to do at the completion of a major. Student learning outcomes are learner-centered, action-oriented, specific, and measurable. Department/program SLOs align with the Institutional Student Learning Outcomes (ISLOs); this alignment should be made explicit in the assessment plan.General template for student learning outcomes:Students will (action verb) (learning statement) by (criterion).

What evidence will show us that our students are learning? (Assessment Methods)Assessment methods are selected or designed to assess the learning articulated in the student learning outcomes. Multiple methods of assessment allow departments to fully assess multi-faceted learning. Direct assessment methods allow students to demonstrate their learning through papers, projects, performances and the like. Indirect assessment methods involve students’ perceptions of their learning. Assessment methods may be embedded in existing courses or collected from students throughout their course of study. In determining assessment methods, consideration is given to how and when evidence will be collected, where evidence will be stored and maintained, and from whom evidence will be gathered.

How does the evidence demonstrate student learning? (Review and Analysis)In reviewing evidence, departments establish criteria and standards of judgment with which to evaluate students’ progress toward the student learning outcomes. The criteria are the skills, understandings, structures and kinds of thinking in student which demonstrate achievement of student learning outcomes. The standards of judgment indicate levels of attainment of student learning outcomes. These criteria and standards are the basis on which student learning is assessed and may often be articulated using rubrics.In analyzing evidence, departments use appropriate quantitative and qualitative analyses to interpret theevidence of student learning.

How can we improve student learning? (Take Action)After a complete analysis of the assessment evidence, there may be indications that students are not learning as we had intended. Departments will determine what changes may be indicated, how these changes may affect the program, and when the changes will take place.

How will we put our plan into practice? (Plan Implementation)In addition, each plan will specify the timeline/cycle for assessing each outcome, as well as the details of the coordination of the assessment process.

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STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMESWhat Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, And Dispositions Should The Ideal Student Demonstrate?

What Is A Learning Outcome?A learning outcome describes what students will know or be able to do at the completion of a unit, course, program, or degree.

Functions of Student Learning OutcomesStudent learning outcomes:• provide direction for instruction• inform students of the knowledge and skills they will gain• map development of knowledge and skills at each level• map relationships between units, courses, programs, degrees• inform curriculum design and pedagogical practice• provide a basis for assessment

Features of a Learning Outcome StatementA good learning outcome statement is:• Learner-centered• Specific• Action oriented• Cognitively appropriate for the program level• Measurable

Student Learning Outcome Format: Students will <<action verb>> <<learning object>> by <<criterion>>.

Cognitive LevelsBloom’s Taxonomy is commonly used to describe levels of the cognitive domain.• Knowledge: remember or recall information• Comprehension: understand information• Application: use ideas, concepts, and actions to solve problems• Analysis: use critical thinking• Synthesis: put together parts to form something new• Evaluation: make judgments based on evidence or defined criteria

Verbs for each level of the cognitive domain:K n o wle d ge : ask, define, draw, fill in, identify, label, list, listen, match, memorize, name, observe, recall, record, recite, repeat, selectC o m p re h e n s i o n : defend, describe, discuss, distinguish, document, explain, estimate, express, generalize, identify, locate, paraphrase, recognize, report, restate, review, tellA pp l i c a t i o n : change, classify, compute, construct, dramatize, draw, demonstrate, employ, illustrate, interpret, manipulate, operate, sequence, show, solve, test, translate, use, writeA n a l y s i s : appraise, calculate, categorize, contrast, debate, defend, diagram, differentiate, dissect, distinguish,experiment, inventory, map, relate, solve, subdivide, survey, testS y n t h e s i s : assemble, compose, construct, create, design, formulate, hypothesize, invent, manage, organize, plan, prepare, produce, propose, set up, speculateE v a l u a t i o n : appraise, compare, conclude, contrast, criticize, decide, discriminate, justify, rate, recommend, select, state, summarize, support

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INSTITUTIONAL STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES

At Gustavus Adolphus College, we seek to foster in students a capacity and passion for lifelong learning. The following Institutional Student Learning Outcomes provide a foundation for such learning.

Cognitive Practice

College Understanding: Cognitive practice encompasses skills such as critical thinking, effective reasoning, and creative problem solving. Cognitive practice includes the ability to analyze information, to creatively and thoughtfully explore questions, and to develop unique answers.

Student Learning Outcome: Students will thoughtfully analyze enduring and contemporary questions from multiple perspectives, will independently develop original and creative solutions to complex problems, and will support their reasoning while considering other possibilities.

Intellectual Capacities

College Understanding: Intellectual capacities encompass the skills necessary for effective written and oral communication, quantitative literacy, and creative expression.

Student Learning Outcome: Students will demonstrate the ability to understand and communicate effectively across a variety of modes, including written, oral, visual, creative, and quantitative.

Integration of Learning

College Understanding: Integration of learning is “the demonstrated ability to connect information from disparate contexts and perspectives.” (from “Liberal Arts Student Learning Outcomes: An Integrated Approach”). Integration of learning produces a seamlessness of perspective in which multiple fields are connected together in approaching a subject of study.

Student Learning Outcome: Students will synthesize and apply their broad and specialized knowledge, skills, and ways of knowing in varied contexts.

Ethical Reflection

College Understanding: Ethical reflection is the thoughtful evaluation of ethical questions and the development of a critical awareness regarding the values that inform the choices all people, including oneself, make when confronting such questions.

Student Learning Outcome: Students will critically contemplate the conflicting value choices of the ethically complex world in which we live, will articulate their own values, and will reflect on how these values shape their ethical decisions.

Intercultural Understanding

College Understanding: Intercultural understanding is the ability to engage respectfully with others who are both different from, and similar to, ourselves. Striving toward intercultural understanding is essential to an individual’s effort to be an informed and active member of one’s communities.

Student Learning Outcome: Students will thoughtfully consider different beliefs, customs, practices, and social behaviors as they develop strategies for respectful and constructive engagement with others in order to come to a broad sense of being in the world.

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Leadership

College Understanding: Leadership is the capacity and willingness to take responsibility for and promote change within various communities, informed by careful reflection upon one’s goals and values, recognizing the important role that service to others plays in leadership.

Student Learning Outcome: Students will reflect upon philosophies of leadership, develop effective habits and practices of community empowerment, and work collaboratively to promote peace and justice.

Well-Being

College Understanding: Well-being is a choice to assume responsibility for the quality of one’s life across multiple dimensions: intellectual, emotional, spiritual, vocational, career, financial, relational, environmental, and physical. It begins with a conscious decision to shape a healthy lifestyle. We strive to provide students withthe intellectual and practical tools they need to live productive and healthy lives.

Student Learning Outcome: Students will develop an awareness of multiple dimensions of well-being and the intellectual and practical skills necessary to make thoughtful decisions in all dimensions of well-being.

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EXAMPLES OF STUDY QUESTIONS

• What approaches to learning do students take as they shift from one disciplinary course to another or from intro courses to higher-level courses in their program of study?

• What gaps in skill level occur as students transition into subsequent courses or learning experiences?

• What kinds of erroneous ideas, concepts, or misunderstandings predictably interfere with students’abilities to learn new content?

• What approaches do successful and unsuccessful learners take to solve representative disciplinary problems?

• What patterns of weakness continue to surface or persist in students’ work?

• What kinds of overgeneralization or oversimplifications do learners carry with them as they move to higher-level courses?

• What kinds of misunderstandings, misinterpretations, missing steps, or underdeveloped concepts manifest themselves in the work students produce?

• How well does students’ representation or demonstration of learning in lower-level or prerequisite courses prepare them to develop in consecutive or upper-level courses?

• How well do skills-based courses prepare students for consecutive or higher-level courses that require students to build on or integrate those skills?

• How well do students integrate new learning into previous learning, draw on previous learning in the progression of their studies, or apply previous learning to new contexts?

Examples of Student Survey/Focus Group Questions:

• How well did y ou achieve each of the departmental/program l ea r ning outcomes?

• What aspects of your education in this department/program helped you with y our l e a r ning and why were they helpful?

• What might the department/program do differently to help y ou l ea r n more effectively and why would these actions help?

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EXAMPLES OF EVIDENCE OF STUDENT LEARNING

Direct Evidence:

“tangible, visible, self-explanatory, and compelling evidence of exactly what students have and have not learned” (Assessing Student Learning, a Common Sense Guide by Linda Suskie)

Direct evidence of student learning outcomes in program assessment ideally consists of a culminating experience encompassing all of the outcomes.

Capstone Projects Senior Theses Senior Seminar Projects

Portfolios Exhibits Performances

Presentations Licensure Exams Certification Exams

Subject Area Exams Student Publications Conference Presentations

Employer or Internship supervisor ratings of student performance

Indirect Evidence:

“proxy signs that students are probably learning”(Assessing Student Learning, a Common Sense Guide by Linda Suskie)

Grades

Retention and Graduation Rates

Admission and Graduation Rates into Graduate Programs

Quality and Reputation of Graduate Programs into which graduates are accepted

Placement rates of graduates into careers

Student participation in research, publications, conferences

Honors, awards, scholarships earned by students and

graduates Program Review data

Surveys (Student Perceptions, Alumni, Employers)

Focus Groups with students, faculty, employers

Student Assessment of Learning Gains (SALG)

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EVALUATING EVIDENCE OF STUDENT LEARNING

Norm Referencing:

• An individual student’s achievement is compared across the achievement of a broader population on the same task.

• Examples include standardized tests such as ETS subject test, GRE, GMAT, LSAT, MCAT, or national licensure exams.

Criterion Referencing:

• Criteria and standards of judgment are developed within the program.

• Compare student performance against the dimensions and levels of attainment on a specified task.

• Align with outcome, assessment methods, and student learning over time.

• Lead to conversations about pedagogy, curriculum, and instructional design and methods.

Scoring Rubrics:

• A set of criteria, aligned with learning outcomes, identifying

o Expected dimensions of student learning

o Levels of achievement along the dimensions

• Descriptors

o Criteria-based: ways of thinking, knowing, or behaving (such as creativity, integration, analysis)

o Performance-based: how well each criterion is met along a continuum (such as beginning, developing, mastery)

• Rubric types:

o Analytic: a listing of each criteria with performance levels and descriptors

o Holistic: grouping of criteria and descriptors for each performance level

• Implementation of a scoring rubric:

o Ensure inter-rater reliability

Several evaluators independently apply the rubric on a selected sample of student work.

The evaluators review and discuss their ratings, reconciling any differences in application.

Repeat the process on another set of student work until consensus is reached.

o One or more evaluators apply the rubric to the set of student work.

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ANNUAL REPORT FORMThe Department and Program Assessment Annual Report is a Google form and is submitted online. Alternatively, you may complete the form using a Word template (on PADC Moodle page).

Department and Program Assessment Annual Report* Required

Department or Program *

Department or Program Chair *

Program Assessment Liaison (PAL) *

Academic Year *

Study Question. *Briefly describe the study question(s) your department/program considered in this academic year.

Alignment of Student Learning Outcomes and Study Question. *Specify the Student Learning Outcomes your department/program focused on this academic year.

Direct Evidence. *Specify the sources of the direct evidence of student learning that you gathered and examined in this academic year. Check all that apply.□ Senior Capstone Course Projects or Senior Theses□ Senior Portfolio, Exhibit, or Performance□ ETS Subject Matter exam or similar instrument□ Assignments or exams from specific courses□ Presentations□ Other:

Direct Evidence: Method of Evaluation. *Briefly describe the methodology used by the department/program to gather and evaluate direct evidence of student learning. Address the particulars of who, what, when, where, and how the STUDENT WORK was collected. Address the particulars of who, what when, where, and how the EVALUATION of student work was done. For example: "The PAL collected the senior theses from all seniors enrolled in XXX-350. A committee of three faculty members (John Doe, Jane Doe, and Zoe Boe) read the theses, applying a department-written rubric."

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Indirect Evidence. *Specify the sources of the indirect evidence of student learning that you gathered and examined this academic year. Check all that apply.□ Grades in specific courses.□ Student surveys.□ Focus groups.□ Student Assessment of Learning Gains.□ Retention and Graduation Rates.□ Graduate Programs (admission rates, graduation rates, quality and reputation of programs to

which students are accepted).□ Program Review data.□ Student participation in research, presentations/publications, and conferences.□ Placement rates of graduates into careers.□ Other:

Indirect Evidence: Method of Evaluation. *Briefly describe the methodology used by the department/program to gather and evaluate indirect evidence of student learning. Address the particulars of who, what, when, where, and how the EVIDENCE was collected. Address the particulars of who, what when, where, and how the EVALUATION was done. For example: "In May, the PAL administered a Senior Exit Survey to all graduating seniors using SurveyMonkey."

Evidence: Analysis and Interpretation. *Briefly describe the results of the evaluation of evidence of student learning. How well did students achieve the Student Learning Outcome(s)? What strengths and weaknesses were observed?

Actions and Next Steps. *Briefly describe the recommendations or actions your department/program will consider for improving student learning.

Discussion of assessment results:Briefly identify how and where your department/program will discuss information generated by the assessment data (e.g., regularly scheduled department meeting, department retreat).

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9 Principles of Good Practice for Assessing Student Learning

1. The assessment of student learning begins with educational values. Assessment is not an endin itself but a vehicle for educational improvement. Its effective practice, then, begins with and enacts a vision of the kinds of learning we most value for students and strive to help them achieve. Educational values should drive not only what we choose to assess but also how we do so. Where questions about educational mission and values are skipped over, assessment threatens to be an exercise in measuring what's easy, rather than a process of improving what we really care about.

2. Assessment is most effective when it reflects an understanding of learning as multidimensional, integrated, and revealed in performance over time. Learning is a complex process. It entails not only what students know but what they can do with what they know; it involves not only knowledge and abilities but values, attitudes, and habits of mind that affect both academic success and performance beyond the classroom. Assessment should reflect these understandings by employing a diverse array of methods, including those that call for actual performance, using them over time so as to reveal change, growth, and increasing degrees of integration. Such an approach aims for a more complete and accurate picture of learning, and therefore firmer bases for improving our students' educational experience.

3. Assessment works best when the programs it seeks to improve have clear, explicitly stated purposes. Assessment is a goal-oriented process. It entails comparing educational performance with educational purposes and expectations -- those derived from the institution's mission, from faculty intentions in program and course design, and from knowledge of students' own goals. Where program purposes lack specificity or agreement, assessment as a process pushes a campus toward clarity about where to aim and what standards to apply; assessment also prompts attention to where and how program goals will be taught and learned. Clear, shared, implementable goals are the cornerstone for assessment that is focused and useful.

4. Assessment requires attention to outcomes but also and equally to the experiences that lead to those outcomes. Information about outcomes is of high importance; where students "end up" matters greatly. But to improve outcomes, we need to know about student experience along the way -- about the curricula, teaching, and kind of student effort that lead to particular outcomes. Assessment can help us understand which students learn best under what conditions; with such knowledge comes the capacity to improve the whole of their learning.

5. Assessment works best when it is ongoing not episodic. Assessment is a process whose power is cumulative. Though isolated, "one-shot" assessment can be better than none, improvement is best fostered when assessment entails a linked series of activities undertaken over time. This may mean tracking the process of individual students, or of cohorts of students; it may mean collecting thesame examples of student performance or using the same instrument semester after semester. The point is to monitor progress toward intended goals in a spirit of continuous improvement. Along the way, the assessment process itself should be evaluated and refined in light of emerging insights.

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6. Assessment fosters wider improvement when representatives from across the educational community are involved. Student learning is a campus-wide responsibility, and assessment is a way of enacting that responsibility. Thus, while assessment efforts may start small, the aim over time is to involve people from across the educational community. Faculty play an especially important role, but assessment's questions can't be fully addressed without participation by student-affairs educators, librarians, administrators, and students. Assessment may also involve individuals from beyond the campus (alumni, trustees, employers) whose experience can enrich the sense of appropriate aims and standards for learning. Thus understood, assessment is not a task for small groups of experts but a collaborative activity; its aim is wider, better-informed attention to student learning by all parties with a stake in its improvement.

7. Assessment makes a difference when it begins with issues of use and illuminates questions that people really care about. Assessment recognizes the value of information in the process of improvement. But to be useful, information must be connected to issues or questions that people really care about. This implies assessment approaches that produce evidence that relevant parties will find credible, suggestive, and applicable to decisions that need to be made. It means thinking in advance about how the information will be used, and by whom. The point of assessment is not to gather data and return "results"; it is a process that starts with the questions of decision-makers, that involves them in the gathering and interpreting of data, and that informs and helps guide continuous improvement.

8. Assessment is most likely to lead to improvement when it is part of a larger set of conditions that promote change. Assessment alone changes little. Its greatest contribution comes on campuses where the quality of teaching and learning is visibly valued and worked at. On such campuses, the push to improve educational performance is a visible and primary goal of leadership; improving the quality of undergraduate education is central to the institution's planning, budgeting, and personnel decisions. On such campuses, information about learning outcomes is seen as an integral part of decision making, and avidly sought.

9. Through assessment, educators meet responsibilities to students and to the public. There is a compelling public stake in education. As educators, we have a responsibility to the publics that support or depend on us to provide information about the ways in which our students meet goalsand expectations. But that responsibility goes beyond the reporting of such information; our deeper obligation -- to ourselves, our students, and society -- is to improve. Those to whom educators areaccountable have a corresponding obligation to support such attempts at improvement.

Authors

Alexander W. Astin; Trudy W. Banta; K. Patricia Cross; Elaine El-Khawas; Peter T. Ewell; Pat Hutchings; Theodore J. Marchese; Kay M. McClenney; Marcia Mentkowski; Margaret A. Miller; E. Thomas Moran; Barbara D. Wright This document was developed under the auspices of the AAHE Assessment Forum (B a r b a r a Ca mb r idge is Director) with support from the Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education with additional support for publication and dissemination from the Exxon Education Foundation. Copies may be made without restriction. AAHE site maintained by: Mary C. Schwarz m j o y ce @ aa h e . o r g

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AAHE Principles of Good Practice: Aging Nicely

A Letter from Pat Hutchings, Peter Ewell, and Trudy Banta(h t t p : // w w w . l e a r n i n g o u t c o m e a s s e ss m e n t . o r g / P r i n c i p l e s o f A ss e ss m e n t . h t m l )

Twenty years ago, in 1992, the American Association for Higher Education’s Assessment Forum released its “Principles of Good Practice for Assessing Student Learning,” a document developed by twelve prominent scholar-practitioners of the movement. The principles have been widely used, studied, and written about (see for instance Banta, Lund, Black & Oblander, 1995), and adapted in other documents and statements. Their inclusion on the NILOA website is a welcome addition, for, like good wine, the AAHE Principles have aged quite nicely.

As noted in the introduction to the document, the purpose of the Principles was to advance assessment “as a powerful tool for educational improvement.” Their aim was to distill the wisdom of practice emerging at the time, and to assist campuses to craft approaches that actually made a difference for students and their learning. Thus, one finds a focus on the importance of clear purposes and goals, on ongoing rather than episodic attention to improvement, and on the involvement of multiple stakeholders—all now a familiar part of the gospel of assessment. Some of the principles have a special resonance today, however.

Seen through the lens of today’s assessment movement, Principle #7 is particularly worth noting: “Assessment makes a difference when it begins with issues of use and illuminates questions that people really care about.” In national surveys (Kuh & Ikenberry, 2009), and other recent studies (see, for example, Banta& Blaich, 2011; Blaich & Wise, 2011), the problem of use has become increasingly clear. Assessment is certainly being conducted, evidence is being generated, and reports are being written and filed. But translating that work, and the significant energy and resources it requires, into real improvements for learners continues to be a challenge. The problem, as Principle #7 suggests, is not that the data aren’t good enough, or that we don’t have enough data, but that our questions aren’t the right ones. Assessment, the AAHE document urges, “means thinking in advance about how the information will be used, and by whom.”

Principle #6 may look a little different from today’s perch, as well. It calls for involvement “from across the educational community”—naming “faculty, student-affairs educators, librarians, administrators, and students.” Certainly. But of the groups on that list, students have arguably been least involved. That’s unfortunate because there are now compelling stories about the value they can bring to the enterprise—not just as objects of assessment but as active participants in helping to shape questions about their own learning, gathering and analyzing evidence, and pushing for change (Hutchings, Huber & Ciccone, 2011; Werder & Otis, 2010). And—more importantly--that involvement brings direct benefits to the students themselves.

The AAHE Principles—as “principles”—are not meant to provide practical, point-by-point guidance. They are not “how-to” advice. Happily, with the evolution of assessment over the last two decades, there is a lot of this kind of help available today. Their virtue is as foundational ideas, as starting places for how to think about assessment—whether about the “use question” the involvement of students, or any of the other themes developed in the document. As campuses seek to make assessment an integral part of institutional culture, returning to first principles and using them to forge a shared understanding of purposes and processes can be a productive exercise.

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THE ESSENTIAL LEARNING OUTCOMES

Beginning in school, and continuing at successively higher levels across their college studies, students should prepare for twenty-first-century challenges by gaining:

Knowledge of Human Cultures and the Physical and Natural World

• Through study in the sciences and mathematics, social sciences, humanities, histories, languages, and the arts

Focused by engagement with big questions, both contemporary and enduring

Intellectual and Practical Skills, including

• Inquiry and analysis

• Critical and creative thinking

• Written and oral communication

• Quantitative literacy

• Information literacy

• Teamwork and problem solving

Practiced extensively, across the curriculum, in the context of progressively more challenging problems, projects, and standards for performance

Personal and Social Responsibility, including

• Civic knowledge and engagement—local and global

• Intercultural knowledge and competence

• Ethical reasoning and action

• Foundations and skills for lifelong learning

Anchored through active involvement with diverse communities and real-world challenges

Integrative and Applied Learning, including

• Synthesis and advanced accomplishment across general and specialized studies

Demonstrated through the application of knowledge, skills, and responsibilities to new settings and complex problems

Note: This listing was developed through a multiyear dialogue with hundreds of colleges and universities about needed goals for student learning; analysis of a long series of recommendations and reports from the business community; and analysis of the accreditation requirements for engineering, business, nursing, and teacher education. The findings are documented in previous publications ofthe Association of American Colleges and Universities: Greater Expectations: A New Vision for Learning as a Nation Goes to College(2002), Taking Responsibility for the Quality of the Baccalaureate Degree (2004), and College Learning for the New Global Century (2007).

For further information, see www.aacu.org/leap.

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BOOKS:

RESOURCES

Driscoll, A. & Woods, S. Developing Outcomes-Based Assessment for Learner-Centered Education,

2007. Huba, M. & Freed, J.E. Learned-Centered Assessment on College Campuses, 2000.

Maki, P. L. Assessing for Learning, 2010. Suskie,

L. Assessing Student Learning, 2009. Walvoord,

B. Assessment Clear and Simple, 2004.

ACADEMIC JOURNALS:

Assessment Update (Available on Academic Search Premier)Covers the developments in higher education assessment. Gives information & advice on conducting assessments, including student learning & outcomes, faculty instruction, academic programs, student services,& overall institutional functioning.

Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation (Peer-reviewed electronic journal.) (http: / / p a r e onl i n e . n e t/ H o m e . ht m )

WEBSITES:

National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA) (www . l e a r ni n g ou t c om e s a s s es s m e nt . o r g )

AAC&U: Association of American Colleges and Universities (h tt p : // www . aa c u . o r g / ) Assessment Resources (h tt p : // www . aa c u . o r g / r e s o u r ce s / a ss es s m e n t / i n d e x . c f m ) VALUE Rubrics (h tt p : // w ww . aa c u. o r g / v a lu e / in d e x. c f m )

New Leadership Alliance for Student Learning and Accountability (h tt p : // www . n e w l e a d e r s h i p a lli a n ce . o r g / )

Internet Resources for Higher Education Outcomes Assessment (North Carolina State) (h tt p : / / www 2 . a c s . n c s u . e d u / U P A / a s s m t / r e s o u r ce . h t m )

Assessment Resources (Susan Hatfield’s Page) (h tt p : / / c o u r s e 1 . w in on a . e d u / s h a t f i e ld / a i r / r e s o u r ce s . h t m )

SALG: Student Assessment of Their Learning Gains (h t t p : // www . s a lg s it e . o r g / )“free course-evaluation tool that allows college-level instructors to gather learner-focused feedback from students”

Assessment of Undergraduate Research and Scientific Research Teaching Instruments (Grinnell College) (h tt p : / / www . g r i nn e ll . e d u / a c a d e m i c / c s l a / a ss es s m e n t )

Authentic Assessment Toolbox (North Central College) (h tt p : / / j f m u e ll e r . f a c ult y . no c t r l. e d u/ t o o lb o x / i n d e x . h t m )“a how-to text on creating authentic tasks, rubrics, and standards for measuring and improving student learning”

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Principles for Effective Assessment of Student AchievementJuly 19, 2013

The undersigned national higher education associations and regional accrediting commissions have endorsed the attached statement, “Principles for Effective Assessment of Student Achievement.” The statement grew out of a meeting of the presidents of the seven regional accrediting commissions and public and private university provosts. The statement is intended to emphasize the need to assess effectively student achievement, and the importance of conducting such assessments in ways that are congruent with the institution’s mission.

We hope that colleges and universities will find this statement useful in evaluating their assessment policies and procedures and that accrediting commissions similarly will find the statement helpful in evaluating their assessment standards. Looking ahead, we believe that the shared principles of this consensus statement can facilitate continued cooperation and collaboration between these two allied sectors of the higher education community.

H i g h e r E d u c a t i o n A ss o c i a t i o n s : R e g i o n al A c c r e d i t i ng C o m m i ss i o n s :

American Association of Community Colleges Middle States Commission on Higher Education( AACC) ( M SCH E)

American Association of State Colleges and New England Association of Schools and CollegesUniversities ( AASCU) Commission on Institutions of Higher Education

( N EASC-CIH E)

American Council on Education ( ACE) North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, The Higher Learning Commission ( N CA-H LC)

Association of American Universities ( AAU) Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities( N

WCCU)

Association of Public and Land-grant Universities Southern Association of Colleges and Schools( APLU) Commission on Colleges ( SACS)

National Association of Independent Colleges and Western Association of Schools and Colleges – Universities ( N AICU) Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior

Colleges ( WASC-ACCJC)

Western Association of Schools and Colleges - Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities ( WASC-ACSCU)

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Principles for Effective Assessment of Student Achievement

Federal law requires that a higher education institution undergoing accreditation provide evidence of “success with respect to student achievement in relation to the institution’s mission.” Both aspects of this requirement—the insistence upon achievement, and the tailoring to institutional mission—are critically important. The demonstration of quality is a fundamental responsibility of all colleges and universities, but both the kinds of quality and the methods used to measure it will differ depending on the mission of the institution.

More specifically, though the exact content of these criteria and the methods for measuring them will differ, all institutions should be expected to provide evidence of success in three domains:

1. E vid e n c e of the s tud e nt l e a r ning ex p e r i e n ce . Institutions should be able to define and evaluate how their students are learning: more specifically, institutions should be able to describe the kinds of experiences that they expect students to have inside and outside the classroom. Relevant evidence may pertain to targets for the kinds of reading and writing assignments that students should complete; levels of personal interaction with faculty members; residential and/or co-curricular components of the learning experience, and other learning experiences that the institution deems relevant to its mission.

2. E v a lu a tion of s tud e nt aca d e mic p e rf o r m a n c e . Institutions should be able to define meaningful curricular goals, and they must have defensible standards for evaluating whether students are achieving those goals. Appropriate methods for the assessment of student work may include, among other approaches, meaningful and rigorous faculty evaluation and grading or external benchmarking.

3. P o s t- g r a du a t i on out c om es . Institutions should be able to articulate how they prepare students consistently with their mission for successful careers, meaningful lives, and, where appropriate, further education. They should collect and provide data about whether they are meeting these goals. Relevant kinds of data may include completion rates, job placement rates, levels of post-graduation civic participation, kinds of jobs and vocations chosen, surveys pertaining to alumni satisfaction and success, and data on other post-graduation goals relevant to the institution’s mission.

The accreditation process needs to allow institutions flexibility with regard to the methods for measuring progress toward these goals. It is a mistake to conflate particular means for measuring goals with the achievement of those goals. Measures of all kinds will work best if they are integrated into the teaching and administration of colleges and universities, analyzed on a regular basis, and summarized in the accreditation process.

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July 2013

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STUDENT LEARNING, ASSESSMENT, AND ACCREDITATIONThe Higher Learning Commission, A Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools

Among the public’s many expectations of higher education, the most basic is that students will learn, and in particular that they will learn what they need to know to attain personal success and fulfill their public responsibilities in a global and diverse society. Student learning is central to all higher education organizations; therefore, these organizations define educational quality--one of their core purposes--by how well theyachieve their declared mission relative to student learning. A focus on achieved student learning is critical not only to a higher education organization’s ability to promote and improve curricular and co-curricular learningexperiences and to provide evidence of the quality of educational experiences and programs, but also to fulfill the most basic public expectations and needs of higher education.In October 1989, the Commission first posited that assessment of student learning is an essential component of every organization’s effort to evaluate overall organizational effectiveness. In February 2003, The Higher Learning Commission adopted a newly revised position statement on assessment of student learning (see Section 3.4-2 of the Handbook of Accreditation, Third Edition) to reaffirm and strengthen this position. Through the Criteria for Accreditation and multiple Core Components, the Commission makes clear the centrality of student learning to effective higher education organizations and extends and deepens its commitment to and expectations for assessment. Indeed, the Commission asserts that assessment is more than a response to demands for accountability, more than a means for curricular improvement. Effective assessment is best understood as a strategy for understanding, confirming, and improving student learning.

Fundamental Questions for Conversations on Student LearningSix fundamental questions serve as prompts for conversations about student learning and the role of assessment in affirming and improving that learning:1. How are your stated student learning outcomes appropriate to your mission, programs, degrees, and students?2. What evidence do you have that students achieve your stated learning outcomes?3. In what ways do you analyze and use evidence of student learning?4. How do you ensure shared responsibility for student learning and for assessment of student learning?5. How do you evaluate and improve the effectiveness of your efforts to assess and improve student learning?6. In what ways do you inform the public and other stakeholders about what students are learning---and how well?In using these questions, an organization should ground its conversations in its distinct mission, context, commitments, goals and intended outcomes for student learning. In addition to informing ongoing improvement in student learning, these conversations will assist organizations and peer reviewers in discerning evidence for the Criteria and Core Components.The fundamental questions and the conversations they prompt are intended to support a strategy of inquiryinto student learning. Further, the questions are intended to support this strategy of inquiry, built on principles of good practice, as a participative and iterative process that:

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• Provides information regarding student learning,• Engages stakeholders in analyzing and using information on student learning to confirm and improve teaching and learning,• Produces evidence that confirms achievement of intended student learning outcomes, and• Guides broader educational and organizational improvement.In other words, organizations assess student learning in meaningful, useful, and workable ways to evaluate how they are achieving their commitments and to act on the results in ways that advance student learning and improve educational quality. Effective assessment of student learning is a matter of commitment, not a matter of compliance.

Evaluating the Organization’s Efforts to Assess and Improve Student LearningThe centrality of student learning and the fundamental nature of assessment as a strategy for understanding and improving that learning are embedded directly into the Criteria and Core Components. Thus, peer reviewers seeking evidence for the Criteria and Core Components will discern evidence of the commitment to student learning and the meaningful use of assessment to confirm and improve student learning. Neitherthe Criteria nor Core Components prescribe specific methods for assessing and improving student learning. Itis inevitable and desirable that diverse organizations exhibit a wide variety of approaches and embed assessment of student learning in a variety of institutional forms and processes. Thus, the Commission and its peer reviewers will not approach the review with expectations for specific ways in which assessment efforts are structured and implemented, but rather with a focus on student learning and the use of assessment to confirm and improve that learning within the context and mission of the organization.To remain focused on student learning and assessment as a strategy for confirming and improving that learning, peer reviewers may use the fundamental questions as prompts to engage faculty, staff, students, and administrators in conversations about the organization’s (a) commitment to improving student learning and educational quality; (b) sustained effort to collect, analyze, and use data and information on student learning; (c) evidence that students have achieved the learning intended; (d) shared responsibility for student learning and assessment of student learning; and (e) successes and challenges in improving student learning and educational quality through assessment. These conversations will assist peer reviewers in understanding the organization’s commitment to student learning and approaches to assessment of that learning within the organization’s context and mission.

Further, the conversation will assist in discerning areas for consultation and in identifying and validating evidence related to the Criteria and Core Components. Peer reviewers will base their accreditation-related judgments and recommendations on this evidence as it relates to the Criteria and Core Components.

Finally, the Commission realizes that assessment of student learning is an ongoing, dynamic process that requires substantial time; that is often marked by fits and starts; and that takes long-term commitment and leadership. It is reasonable for organizations to use different approaches and timetables in implementing their assessment of student learning efforts. Nevertheless, theCommission expects that each organization can demonstrate a sustained effort to implement assessment processes that are workable, reasonable, meaningful, and useful in confirming and improving student learning and in assuring and advancing broader educational and organizational quality.

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