Task Force on Assessment and the Community College Sophomore Assessment Task Force. It was published in May, 1989. The Washington state institutions of higher education have a long-standing commitment to assess student learning and to discern the value of a college education. They agree that assessment helps enhance the quality of programs. Currently, faculty and administrators across the state are involved in discussions and studies to determine the best methods for obtaining appropriate and useful information from assessment activities.
Some states use standardized tests to measure the academic performance of students.
Both task forces included faculty and academic administrators from each participating institution and two HEC Board staff members. The two task forces worked in parallel and ultimately conducted a joint study. More than 100 faculty members from the same institutions took shortened versions of the tests and critique them for appropriateness of content and usefulness. Furthermore, student performance is affected by differences in the manner in which institutions administer tests, the timing of testing, the selection of students, and the students' motivation. Thus, comparisons with future norms based on tests given under differing conditions will be misleading.