Taken together, these obstacles have proven formidable enough to deter most states from directly assessing student learning. One thing not to do is to reward states for doing mindless testing using old and inadequate instruments. States have good reasons for choosing different paths in assessing student learning, and their testing programs have quite different goals. When public institutions are simply avoiding responsibility, states need to take firm and direct action. But the inescapable conclusion is that national benchmarks for student learning are not going to result from state-level efforts any time soon.
National initiatives appear both more appropriate and more promising.
For example, if all goes well, a new National Assessment of Adult Literacy will be administered in 2002. A proposal is now on the table to administer the survey to samples of college sophomores and seniors in addition to the general population, and the tasks used to assess these students will reflect authentic college-level abilities. This assessment is likely to yield valid results for selected states, and these can provide a starting point for an analysis of student learning. Collecting data through a national initiative will also prevent inappropriate comparisons among different kinds of institutions, because the small sample sizes preclude the compilation of institution-level results. Comparing states , on the other hand, appears both feasible and justifiable, because every state ought to have an appropriate mix of institutions within its borders.