National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment |

Documenting what students learn and can do is of growing interest both on campus and with accrediting groups, higher education associations, parents, employers, and policy makers. And yet, we know far too little about what actually happens in assessment on campuses around the country. To fill this void, NILOA will conduct an annual survey to examine the depth and breadth of student learning outcomes assessment at accredited colleges and universities across the United States.

In February 2009, the first of three surveys was sent out; this brief survey will be sent to chief academic officers and asks about the kinds of tools and approaches the institution is using to assess student learning. The surveys will continue each year to probe deeper into institutional practice to explore what assessment techniques are being used to assess student learning and how assessment data is being utilized by the institution for accountability and improvement. The first set of findings can be found in the October 2009 report, More Than You Think, Less Than We Need.

In the Spring and Summer of 2009, NILOA examined the content of institution-wide websites (n=725) to determine the extent to which colleges and universities made available information about student learning outcomes assessment. This analysis in conjunction with the national survey given in 2009 to chief academic officers gives us a broader picture of the state of learning outcomes. The findings for this research can be found in the June 2010 report, Exploring the Landscape.

In March 2010, the second of three surveys was sent out. NILOA is asking selected department or program chairs at every accredited two- and four-year college and university in the U.S. about their assessment practices. The findings from the data collected can be found in the June 2011 report, Down and In: Assessment Practices at the Program Level.

In September 2010, the NILOA researchers compared the survey and webscan data with the NCHEMS study on state policies on student learning outcomes assessment. The findings from that study can be found in the September 2010 report, Connecting State Policies on Assessment with Institutional Assessment Activity.

In November 2011, NILOA researchers released their newest report, Making Student Learning Evidence Transparent: The State of the Art, composed of four sections: 1) the impact of national transparency initiatives; 2) the changing landscape of transparency; 3) the display of assessment results and their subsequent use; and 4) a synthesis of the previous three sections.