NIAD‐UE, Tokyo, Japan
August 2, 2010

資料２

A Common Sense Approach
toAssessing Student Learning
Linda Suskie
Vice President
Middle States Commission on Higher Education
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
http://linda.suskie.home.comcast.net
Linda.Suskie@comcast.net

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What is Assessmentof Student Learning?
• Deciding what we want our students to learn• Making sure they learn it!

‐‐Jane Wolfson, Director, Environmental Science & Studies Program, Towson University2

The Four Seasons
SummerPause
GrowthPlan andSow

HarvestSpringFallRenew
Pause

Winter3

The Plan-Do-Check-Act Cycle
DoPauseIt Happens!

Plan

Organizeand Plan

Reflect

CheckRegroup
Pause

Act

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The Teaching-Learning-Assessment
Cycle
Learning
Opportunities
Pause
It Happens!

Learning
Goals

Organizeand Plan

Reflect

Assessment

Using Results

5Regroup
Pause

What is “Good” Assessment?

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1. Good Assessment
Flows fromClear and Important Goals.
The first step of PDCA
The underlying foundation of theother characteristics of good
assessment
8Teaching is like leading students ona road trip to a destination.
9A Clear Picture of a Successful Student• What do we most want students to learn?
• What can a successful student do?
• Why those things and not others?
• How do we help students learn those things?
• How do we know they’re learning it?
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2. Good Assessment is
Useful and Used.

Consequential Validity
Do assessments make a difference?
Pedagogical Validity
Do assessments lead to improved teaching?
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Are You Satisfied with Your Results?

• Why or why not?
• If not, what are you doing about it?

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Do You Use Assessment Results toCelebrate and Publicize Successes?
• Prospective students and their families• Alumni• Government policymakers• Employers• Agencies and foundations awarding grants
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Do You Use Assessment Results
to Inform Important Decisions?
• Funding priority to requests supported byassessment evidence• Strategic goals and plans based on
assessment evidence• A culture of evidence‐informed planning anddecision‐making
143. Good Assessment isCost-Effective.
Has this assessment been useful?
Has its value been in proportion to the timeand money we have put into it?
If not, stop doing it and do something else.
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Minimize the Burden of Assessment• Focus on just 3‐6 goals• Start with what you have
• Quick and easy assessment tools• Realistic, flexible expectations• Simple, effective reporting requirements• Constructive feedback16

4. GoodAssessment
is Valued.

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How Do College Leaders
Promote and Facilitate Assessment?
• Help faculty find time
• Professional development opportunities• Technical support• Value work on assessment– Recognition– Innovation grants• Freedom to fail18• Use assessment results to inform important decisions

Time?
Stop Doing Something Else.
• What would happen if you suspended
or scaled back…
– Committees– New programs & courses– Other new initiatives
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5. Good Assessment Yields
Reasonably
Accurate, Truthful Results• A perpetual work in progress• Multiple approaches• Include the kind of evidence
that a critic would not challenge
20Reliability and Validity
Traditional Indicators of Assessment Quality• Validity = quality and accuracy• Reliability = consistency• Focus on– Content validity (relation to learning goals)– Consequential validity– Pedagogical validity• Don’t sacrifice validity on the altar of reliability
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Good Assessment
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Clear and important goals
Useful…and usedCost‐effective
ValuedReasonably accurate and truthful results

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