Discover, Assess, Distribute.

Equity Case Study

St. Edward’s University:
Rethinking General Education to Support Social Justice

To better align general education with the mission of St. Edward’s University, a general education renewal process was undertaken to revamp curriculum as well as revamp assessment processes to reflect the equity and social justice mission of the university, moving from a course-based silo assessment approach to a university-level discussion engaging all campus stakeholders in equitable improvement processes.

Occasional Paper 46

Documenting Learning: The Comprehensive Learner Record

Traditionally, transcripts present a collection of lists of courses and grades in a format valuable for trading information between and among institutions of higher education. What if transcripts were reimagined to not only provide information on credits earned, but also provide information on learning acquired both inside and outside the classroom? What if the transcript documented learning in a digital portable record, regardless of where the learning took place or was acquired? Beginning from a partnership between the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) and NASPA: Association of Student Personnel Administrators, the work to develop Comprehensive Learner Records (CLR) sought to address these questions with the help of a group of pilot institutions. NILOA provided professional development support to the pilot institutions as the pilot participants mapped learning and identified assessments of learning from both within and outside of the classroom for inclusion in a formal record. This occasional paper provides an overview of the Comprehensive Learner Record project as well as connection points to assessment. Read more…

Twelve Institutions Named 2020 Excellence in Assessment Designees

The Excellence in Assessment (EIA) program recognizes colleges and universities that successfully integrate assessment practices across the institution, provide evidence of student learning outcomes to stakeholders, and utilize assessment results to guide institutional decision-making and improve student performance. 

McKendree University, Miami Dade College, and the University of Wisconsin Whitewater were awarded the 2020 Sustained Excellence in Assessment designation for maintaining integrated institution-level student learning outcomes assessment for five or more years. 

Nine universities were awarded the 2020 Excellence in Assessment designation recognizing their commitment to the comprehensive assessment of student learning outcomes as a means to drive internal improvement and advance student success: • Davenport University • East Carolina University • Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University • Messiah University • Northwestern State University • Oregon Health & Science University • University of Florida • University of Texas at Arlington • Wayne State University.

Equity Response

Cripping Equity and Assessment:
Disability as Identity and Culture in the Context of Culturally Responsive Assessment

Ezekiel Kimball, Jordan Abbott, and Jonique Childs
University of Massachusetts Amherst

Montenegro and Jankowski establish an ambitious goal in their occasional papers Equity and Assessment: Moving Towards Culturally Responsive Assessment and A New Decade for Assessment: Embedding Equity into Assessment Praxis. Their model, which ties together disparate elements of the assessment cycle with intentional consideration of students’ unique needs and experiences, calls for administrators, staff, and faculty engaged in the assessment process to view this work as integrally linked to the educational experience writ large. However, despite the many laudable features of Montenegro and Jankowski’s proposed approach to culturally responsive assessment, the occasional paper offers only limited attention to issues of disability or to the experiences of disabled students. In response, we offer a “cripped” reading of their occasional papers—raising questions about how Montenegro and Jankowski’s work might be supplemented by insight from crip theory. Read more…

 

In Memoriam:
Arthur Wright Chickering

George D. Kuh

We lost a prolific scholar, influential thought leader and innovator on August 15, 2020 with the passing of Arthur Wright Chickering. Read George Kuh’s In Memoriam: Arthur Wright Chickering which outlines why assessment professionals are indebted to his pioneering work illustrating how and why data about the student experience can be used in institutional decision making.

 

 

Occasional Paper 48

Program Review and Assessment for Continuous Improvement:
Asking the Right Questions

Tami Eggleston, McKendree University 

While almost every campus conducts program reviews, the definition, purpose, structure, and integration of assessment in program reviews is not universally understood, accepted, or implemented. This paper summarizes essential questions and discussions campuses should have regarding program reviews and the integration of assessment into such reviews.

 

 

Assessment in Motion:
Steps Toward a More Integrated Model

Susan Canon, Kelsey Thompson, and Mary Walczak

St. Olaf College has a long history with assessment, having participate in many different assessment initiatives over the years, including being a NILOA case study institution in 2012. NILOA originally selected St. Olaf as a case study for its framing of assessment as inquiry in support of student learning and its strong commitment to using evidence of learning for purposes of ongoing improvement. However, assessment continues to change and shift. This case study provides an update to the original case to help readers explore sustainable assessment and the ongoing review of assessment approaches.