Papers, Articles, & Presentations
In this section, we will provide a bibliography of Papers, Articles, & Presentations on student learning outcomes assessment. The resources are organized by topic to make them more accessible. Due to copyright regulations we cannot put up direct links to many of these articles, but they are available through many university libraries. You may also access the complete resource list here.
Accountability
Association of American Colleges and Universities (2008). Our students' best work: A framework for accountability worthy of our mission (2nd Ed.). Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities. 
http://www.aacu.org/publications/pdfs/StudentsBestreport.pdf
This docuement "framed and approved by the AAC&U Board of Directors, is designed to help campuses respond to calls for greater accountability in ways that strengthen as well as document the quality of student learning in college." (p. iii)
National Commission on the Future of Higher Education (2006). A test of leadership:
Charting the future of U.S. higher education. Washington, DC: US Department of Education. http://www.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/hiedfuture/reports/pre-pub-report.pdf
This report looks at the future of higher education and the issues of: value, access, cost and affordability, financial aid, learning, transparency and accountability, and innovation.
Assessment Tools:
VALUE, Rising to the Challenge, VSA, Texas Experience
Banta, T.W., & Associates. (2002). Building a scholarship of assessment. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
"In this book, leading experts in the field examine the current state of assessment practice and scholarship, explore what the future holds for assessment, and offer guidance to help educators meet these new challenges. The contributors root assessment squarely in several related disciplines to provide an overview of assessment practice and scholarship that will prove useful to both the seasoned educator and those new to assessment practice."
Borden, V.M.H & Pike, G.R. (Eds.) (2009). Assessing and accounting for student learning:
Beyond the Spellings Commission. New Directions for Institutional Research Assessment Supplement 2007. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
This volume covers the background and context of assessment accountability, VSA, Texas Experience, VALUE, and Rising to the Challenge.
Hardison, C. M., & Vilamovska, A. (2009). The collegiate learning assessment: Setting standards for performance at a college or university. Santa Monica, CA: Rand.
http://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/TR663/
"This report illustrates how institutions can set their own standards on the CLA using a method that is appropriate for the CLA's unique characteristics. The authors examined evidence of reliability and procedural validity of a standard-setting methodology that they developed and applied to the CLA."
McPherson, P., & Shulenburger, D. (2006, August). Toward a public universities and
colleges Voluntary System of Accountability for undergraduate education (VSA): A NASULGC and AASCU discussion draft. Washington, DC: NASULGC. http://www.voluntarysystem.org/docs/background/DiscussionPaper3_Aug06.pdf
This article talks about the VSA and how institutions can use this self-evaluation.
Peterson, M.W., & Einarson, M.K. (2001). What are colleges doing about student assessment? The Journal of Higher Education, 72(6), 629-669.
"The purpose of our study was to extend current understanding of how postsecondary institutions have approached, supported, and promoted undergraduate student assessment, and the institutional uses and mpacts that have been realized from these assessment efforts" (p.630). The article may be accessed through JSTOR upon login.
Shulman, L.S. (2007). Counting and recounting: Assessment and the quest for
accountability. Change, 39(1), 20-25.
Sulman questions how assessments are presented. "How and what we choose to count and the manner in which we array and display our accounts is a form of narrative—legitimately, necessarily, and inevitably" (p.20).
Campus Support
Association of American Colleges and Universities (2008). Our students' best work: Aframework for accountability worthy of our mission (2nd Ed.). Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities. http://www.aacu.org/publications/pdfs/StudentsBestreport.pdf
This docuement "framed and approved by the AAC&U Board of Directors, is designed to help campuses respond to calls for greater accountability in ways that strengthen as well as document the quality of student learning in college." (p. iii)
Peterson, M.W., & Einarson, M.K. (2001). What are colleges doing about student assessment? The Journal of Higher Education, 72(6), 629-669.
"The purpose of our study was to extend current understanding of how postsecondary institutions have approached, supported, and promoted undergraduate student assessment, and the institutional uses and mpacts that have been realized from these assessment efforts" (p.630). The article may be accessed through JSTOR upon login.
Suskie, L. (2004). Assessing student learning: A common sense guide. Bolton, MA: Anker Publishing.
"The second edition of this landmark book offers the same practical guidance and is designed to meet ever-increasing demands for improvement and accountability. This edition includes expanded coverage of vital assessment topics such as promoting an assessment culture, characteristics of good assessment, audiences for assessment, organizing and coordinating assessment, assessing attitudes and values, setting benchmarks and standards, and using results to inform and improve teaching, learning, planning, and decision making."
ePortfolios
Banta, T.W. (Ed.) (1999). Portfolio assessment: Uses, cases, scoring, and impact. Jossey-Bass: San Francisco.
"This booklet's articles explore how portfolios, including Web-based portfolios, have been used at various institutions to assess and improve programs in general education, the majory, advising, and overall institutional effectiveness. They describe ways portfolios can be scored, students' perspectives on portfolios, how portfolios changed the faculty culture at one college, and more."
Banta, T.W., & Associates. (2002). Building a scholarship of assessment. San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass.
"In this book, leading experts in the field examine the current state of assessment practice and scholarship, explore what the future holds for assessment, and offer guidance to help educators meet these new challenges. The contributors root assessment squarely in several related disciplines to provide an overview of assessment practice and scholarship that will prove useful to both the seasoned educator and those new to assessment practice."
Cambridge, B., Cambridge, D. & Yancey, K.B. (Eds). (2009). Electronic portfolios 2.0:
Emergent research on implementation and impact. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing
This book features emergent results of studies from 20 institutions that have examined effects on student reflection, integrative learning, establishing identity, organizational learning, and designs for learning supported by technology.
Exemplar Examples of Assessment
Banta, T.W. (Ed.) (2004). Hallmarks of effective outcomes assessment. San Francisco:
John Wiley.
"This booklet brings together the best guidance and practices from Assessment Update to illustrate time-tested principles for all aspects of assessment from planning and implementing to sustaining and improving assessment efforts over time. Useful for those new to assessment as well as experienced practitioners, it details the specific hallmarks required for the success of any assessment program--from leadership and staff development to the assessment of process as well as outcomes, ongoing communication among constituents, and more."
Banta, T.W. (2005). What draw campus leaders to embrace outcomes assessment?
Assessment Update, 17(5), 3,14-15.
This editor's note beings with the question, "What can we learn from the leaders of institutions note for outstanding work in outcomes assessment?" which the author asked eleven top adminstrators (p.3). This article summarize her findings.
Maki, P. (2004). Assessing for learning. Sterling, VA: Stylus.
"This book offers colleges and universities a framework and tools to design an effective and collaborative assessment process appropriate for their culture and institution. It encapsulates the approach that Peggy Maki has developed and refined through the hundreds of successful workshops she has presented nationally and internationally."
Exemplar Examples of Learning Outcomes
Association of American Colleges and Universities (2008). Our students' best work: Aframework for accountability worthy of our mission (2nd Ed.). Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities. http://www.aacu.org/publications/pdfs/StudentsBestreport.pdf
This docuement "framed and approved by the AAC&U Board of Directors, is designed to help campuses respond to calls for greater accountability in ways that strengthen as well as document the quality of student learning in college." (p. iii)
Miller, R. (2007). Assessment in cycles of improvement: Faculty designs for essential
learning outcomes. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities
This publication features a series of reports on how selected colleges and universities foster and assess student learning in twelve liberal education outcome areas, including writing, quantitative literacy, critical thinking, ethics, intercultural knowledge, and information literacy. Moving from goals to experiences, assessments, and improvements driven by assessment data, each institutional story illustrates how complex learning can be shaped over time and across programs to bring students to higher levels of achievement of these important outcomes.
General Education Assessment
Banta, T.W. (Ed.) (1999). Portfolio assessment: Uses, cases, scoring, and impact. Jossey-Bass: San Francisco.
"This booklet's articles explore how portfolios, including Web-based portfolios, have been used at various institutions to assess and improve programs in general education, the majory, advising, and overall institutional effectiveness. They describe ways portfolios can be scored, students' perspectives on portfolios, how portfolios changed the faculty culture at one college, and more."
Seybert, J.A. (2002). Assessing student learning outcomes. New Directions for Community
Colleges, No. 117. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
"This chapter addresses assessment of student learning in general education, transfer programs, career and occupational programs, remedial and developmental courses and programs, and noncredit and continuing education offerings, as well as assessment of affective and noncognitive outcomes and the use of assessment results." The article is available at Wiley InterScience upon login.
Planning Assessment
Association of American Colleges and Universities (2008). Our students' best work: Aframework for accountability worthy of our mission (2nd Ed.). Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities. http://www.aacu.org/publications/pdfs/StudentsBestreport.pdf
This docuement "framed and approved by the AAC&U Board of Directors, is designed to help campuses respond to calls for greater accountability in ways that strengthen as well as document the quality of student learning in college." (p. iii)
Ewell, P.T. (2008). US accreditation and the future of quality assurance: A tenth
anniversary report from the Council on Higher Education Accreditation. Washington, DC: CHEA Institute for Research and Study of Accreditation and Quality Assurance.
"This book provides a comprehensive review of the current role of accreditation in the United States and considers its future. The principal audiences for which it was prepared are policy leaders at institutions, higher education associations, accrediting organizations and government agencies."
Shulman, L.S. (2007). Counting and recounting: Assessment and the quest for
accountability. Change, 39(1), 20-25.
Sulman questions how assessments are presented. "How and what we choose to count and the manner in which we array and display our accounts is a form of narrative—legitimately, necessarily, and inevitably" (p.20).
Suskie, L. (2004). Assessing student learning: A common sense guide. Bolton, MA: Anker Publishing.
"The second edition of this landmark book offers the same practical guidance and is designed to meet ever-increasing demands for improvement and accountability. This edition includes expanded coverage of vital assessment topics such as promoting an assessment culture, characteristics of good assessment, audiences for assessment, organizing and coordinating assessment, assessing attitudes and values, setting benchmarks and standards, and using results to inform and improve teaching, learning, planning, and decision making."
Terenzini, P. T. (1989). Assessment with open eyes: Pitfalls in studying student outcomes.
Journal of Higher Education, 60, 644-664.
"This article calls attention to some of those pitfalls [of assessment] and suggests, however briefly, how at least some of them might be avoided" (p. 646). The paper has a twofold purpose, "first, to identity some of teh serious conceptual, measurement, organizational, and political problems likely to be encountered in the process of designing and implementing an assessment program; and second, by identifying some of the pitfalls, to help people who are invovled in assessment to "do" it well" (p. 646). This article is available through JSTOR upon login.
Transparency
McPherson, P., & Shulenburger, D. (2006, August). Toward a public universities and
colleges Voluntary System of Accountability for undergraduate education (VSA): A NASULGC and AASCU discussion draft. Washington, DC: NASULGC. http://www.voluntarysystem.org/docs/background/DiscussionPaper3_Aug06.pdf
This article talks about the VSA and how institutions can use this self-evaluation.
Miller, R. (2007). Assessment in cycles of improvement: Faculty designs for essential learning outcomes. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities.
This publication features a series of reports on how selected colleges and universities foster and assess student learning in twelve liberal education outcome areas, including writing, quantitative literacy, critical thinking, ethics, intercultural knowledge, and information literacy. Moving from goals to experiences, assessments, and improvements driven by assessment data, each institutional story illustrates how complex learning can be shaped over time and across programs to bring students to higher levels of achievement of these important outcomes.
National Commission on the Future of Higher Education (2006). A test of leadership:
Charting the future of U.S. Higher Education. Washington, DC: US Department of Education. http://www.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/hiedfuture/reports/pre-pub-report.pdf
This report looks at the future of higher education and the issues of: value, access, cost and affordability, financial aid, learning, transparency and accountability, and innovation.
Understanding Assessment (Definition and History)
Banta, T.W., & Associates. (2002). Building a scholarship of assessment. San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass.
"In this book, leading experts in the field examine the current state of assessment practice and scholarship, explore what the future holds for assessment, and offer guidance to help educators meet these new challenges. The contributors root assessment squarely in several related disciplines to provide an overview of assessment practice and scholarship that will prove useful to both the seasoned educator and those new to assessment practice."
Borden, V.M.H & Pike, G.R. (Eds.) (2009). Assessing and accounting for student learning:
Beyond the Spellings Commission. New Directions for Institutional Research Assessment Supplement 2007. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
This volume covers the background and context of assessment accountability, VSA, Texas Experience, VALUE, and Rising to the Challenge.
Kuh, G.D. & Ewell, P.T. (2010). The State of learning outcomes assessment in the United States. Higher Education Management and Policy, 22 (1), 1-20.
"This paper summarises the status of undergraduate student learning outcomes assessment at accredited colleges and universities in the United States" (p.1). You may view this article upon login at OECD.
Ewell, P.T. (2002). An emerging scholarship: A brief history of assessment. In T.W. Banta
(Ed.), Building a scholarship of assessment (pp. 3-25). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
"This chapter offers a brief historical and analytical review of the asessment movement, from approximately 1985 to the present" (p.3).
Ewell, P.T. (2008). US accreditation and the future of quality assurance: A tenth
anniversary report from the Council on Higher Education Accreditation. Washington, DC: CHEA Institute for Research and Study of Accreditation and Quality Assurance.
"This book provides a comprehensive review of the current role of accreditation in the United States and considers its future. The principal audiences for which it was prepared are policy leaders at institutions, higher education associations, accrediting organizations and government agencies."
Maki, P. (2004). Assessing for learning. Sterling, VA: Stylus.
"This book offers colleges and universities a framework and tools to design an effective and collaborative assessment process appropriate for their culture and institution. It encapsulates the approach that Peggy Maki has developed and refined through the hundreds of successful workshops she has presented nationally and internationally."
Peterson, M.W., Augustine, C.H., Einarson, M.K., & Vaughan, D.B. (1999). Designing student
assessment to stengthen institutional performance in baccalauraete institutions. Standford University, National Center for Postsecondary Improvement: Stanford, CA.
http://www-leland.stanford.edu/group/ncpi/documents/pdfs/5-08_baccalaureate.pdf
This monograph will "provide a national profile of current student assessment practices and institutional support patterns" and compare it with similar institutions (p.1). It also provides practical advice for practionners.
Peterson, M.W., & Einarson, M.K. (2001). What are colleges doing about student assessment? The Journal of Higher Education, 72(6), 629-669.
"The purpose of our study was to extend current understanding of how postsecondary institutions have approached, supported, and promoted undergraduate student assessment, and the institutional uses and mpacts that have been realized from these assessment efforts" (p.630). The article may be accessed through JSTOR upon login.
Terenzini, P. T. (1989). Assessment with open eyes: Pitfalls in studying student outcomes.
Journal of Higher Education, 60, 644-664.
"This article calls attention to some of those pitfalls [of assessment] and suggests, however briefly, how at least some of them might be avoided" (p. 646). The paper has a twofold purpose, "first, to identity some of teh serious conceptual, measurement, organizational, and political problems likely to be encountered in the process of designing and implementing an assessment program; and second, by identifying some of the pitfalls, to help people who are invovled in assessment to "do" it well" (p. 646). This article is available through JSTOR upon login.
Using Assessment
Banta, T.W. (Ed.) (2004). Hallmarks of effective outcomes assessment. San Francisco:
John Wiley.
"This booklet brings together the best guidance and practices from Assessment Update to illustrate time-tested principles for all aspects of assessment from planning and implementing to sustaining and improving assessment efforts over time. Useful for those new to assessment as well as experienced practitioners, it details the specific hallmarks required for the success of any assessment program--from leadership and staff development to the assessment of process as well as outcomes, ongoing communication among constituents, and more."
Banta, T.W. (2009). Demonstrating the impact of changes based on assessment findings. Assessment Update, 21(2), 3-4.
This editors note discusses her co-authored upcoming book Designing effective assessment: Principles and profiles of good practice. In it they interview individuals about assessment and this article provides a brief summary of findings.
Ewell, P.T. (1999). Linking performance measures to resource allocation: Exploring
unmapped terrain. Quality in Higher Education, 5(3), 191-209.
Examination of how (and whether) particular types of institutional performance measures can be beneficially used in making resource allocation decisions finds that only easily verifiable "hard" statistics should be used in classic performance funding approaches, although surveys and the use of good practices by institutions may indirectly inform longer-term resource investments.
Peterson, M.W., Augustine, C.H., Einarson, M.K., & Vaughan, D.B. (1999). Designing student
assessment to stengthen institutional performance in baccalauraete institutions. Standford University, National Center for Postsecondary Improvement: Stanford, CA.
http://www-leland.stanford.edu/group/ncpi/documents/pdfs/5-08_baccalaureate.pdf
This monograph will "provide a national profile of current student assessment practices and institutional support patterns" and compare it with similar institutions (p.1). It also provides practical advice for practionners.
Peterson, M.W., & Einarson, M.K. (2001). What are colleges doing about student assessment? The Journal of Higher Education, 72(6), 629-669.
"The purpose of our study was to extend current understanding of how postsecondary institutions have approached, supported, and promoted undergraduate student assessment, and the institutional uses and mpacts that have been realized from these assessment efforts" (p.630). The article may be accessed through JSTOR upon login.
Seybert, J.A. (2002). Assessing student learning outcomes. New Directions for Community
Colleges, No. 117. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
"This chapter addresses assessment of student learning in general education, transfer programs, career and occupational programs, remedial and developmental courses and programs, and noncredit and continuing education offerings, as well as assessment of affective and noncognitive outcomes and the use of assessment results." The article is available at Wiley InterScience upon login.
Suskie, L. (2004). Assessing student learning: A common sense guide. Bolton, MA: Anker Publishing.
"The second edition of this landmark book offers the same practical guidance and is designed to meet ever-increasing demands for improvement and accountability. This edition includes expanded coverage of vital assessment topics such as promoting an assessment culture, characteristics of good assessment, audiences for assessment, organizing and coordinating assessment, assessing attitudes and values, setting benchmarks and standards, and using results to inform and improve teaching, learning, planning, and decision making."
Using Learning Outcomes
Miller, R. (2007). Assessment in cycles of improvement: Faculty designs for essential
learning outcomes. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities.
This publication features a series of reports on how selected colleges and universities foster and assess student learning in twelve liberal education outcome areas, including writing, quantitative literacy, critical thinking, ethics, intercultural knowledge, and information literacy. Moving from goals to experiences, assessments, and improvements driven by assessment data, each institutional story illustrates how complex learning can be shaped over time and across programs to bring students to higher levels of achievement of these important outcomes.
Complete list of resources
American Association for Higher Education. (1992). Assessment principles of good practices. Washington, DC: American Association for Higher Education.
Association of American Colleges and Universities (2008). Our students' best work: Aframework for accountability worthy of our mission (2nd Ed.). Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities. http://www.aacu.org/publications/pdfs/StudentsBestreport.pdf
Banta, T.W. (Ed.) (1999). Portfolio assessment: Uses, cases, scoring, and impact. Jossey-
Bass: San Francisco.
Banta, T.W. (Ed.) (2004). Hallmarks of effective outcomes assessment. San Francisco:
John Wiley.
Banta, T.W. (2005). What draw campus leaders to embrace outcomes assessment?
Assessment Update, 17(5), 14-15.
Banta, T.W. (2009). Demonstrating the impact of changes based on assessment findings. Assessment Update, 21(2), 3-4.
Banta, T.W., & Associates. (2002). Building a scholarship of assessment. San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass.
Banta, T.W., & Palumbo, C.A (1999). Assessment essentials: Planning, implementing, and
improving assessment in higher education. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
Borden, V.M.H & Pike, G.R. (Eds.) (2009). Assessing and accounting for student learning:
Beyond the Spellings Commission. New Directions for Institutional Research Assessment Supplement 2007. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Cambridge, B., Cambridge, D. & Yancey, K.B. (Eds). (2009). Electronic portfolios 2.0:
Emergent research on implementation and impact. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing.
Ewell, P.T. (1999). Linking performance measures to resource allocation: Exploring
unmapped terrain. Quality in Higher Education, 5(3), 191-209.
Ewell, P.T. (2002). An emerging scholarship: A brief history of assessment. In T.W. Banta
(Ed.), Building a scholarship of assessment (pp. 3-25). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Ewell, P.T. (2008). US accreditation and the future of quality assurance: A tenth
anniversary report from the Council on Higher Education Accreditation. Washington, DC: CHEA Institute for Research and Study of Accreditation and Quality Assurance.
Hardison, C. M., & Vilamovska, A. (2009). The collegiate learning assessment: Setting standards for performance at a college or university. Santa Monica, CA: Rand.
http://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/TR663/
McPherson, P., & Shulenburger, D. (2006, August). Toward a public universities and
colleges Voluntary System of Accountability for undergraduate education (VSA): A NASULGC and AASCU discussion draft. Washington, DC: NASULGC. http://www.voluntarysystem.org/docs/background/DiscussionPaper3_Aug06.pdf
Maki, P. (2004). Assessing for learning. Sterling, VA: Stylus.
Miller, R. (2007). Assessment in cycles of improvement: Faculty designs for essential
learning outcomes. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities.
National Commission on the Future of Higher Education (2006). A test of leadership:
Charting the future of U.S. higher education. Washington, DC: US Department of Education.
http://www.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/hiedfuture/reports/pre-pub-report.pdf
Peterson, M.W., Augustine, C.H., Einarson, M.K., & Vaughan, D.B. (1999). Designing student
assessment to stengthen institutional performance in baccalauraete institutions. Standford University, National Center for Postsecondary Improvement: Stanford, CA.
http://www-leland.stanford.edu/group/ncpi/documents/pdfs/5-08_baccalaureate.pdf
Peterson, M.W., & Einarson, M.K. (2001). What are colleges doing about student assessment? The Journal of Higher Education, 72(6), 629-669.
Seybert, J.A. (2002). Assessing student learning outcomes. New Directions for Community
Colleges, No. 117. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Shulman, L.S. (2007). Counting and recounting: Assessment and the quest for
accountability. Change, 39(1), 20-25.
Suskie, L. (2004). Assessing student learning: A common sense guide. Bolton, MA: Anker
Publishing.
Terenzini, P. T. (1989). Assessment with open eyes: Pitfalls in studying student outcomes.
Journal of Higher Education, 60, 644-664.
Wolff, R., & Harris. O.D. (1994). Using assessment to develop a culture of evidence. In D.F.
Halpern and Associates, Changing college classrooms: New teaching and learning strategies for an increasingly complex world (pp. 271–288). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.