Measuring college learning responsibly
Subtitle: accountability in a new era
By: Richard J. Shavelson.
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Published: 2010
Place of publication: Stanford, Calif
Language: eng
Number of pages: 238
ISBN-13: 9780804761208; 9780804761215
Subjects: Universities and colleges -- United States -- Examinations; Educational tests and measurements -- United States; Educational accountability -- United States; Education, Higher -- United States -- Evaluation
Description: Accrediting boards, the federal government, and state legislatures are now requiring a greater level of accountability from higher education. However, current accountability practices, including accreditation, No Child Left Behind, and performance reporting are inadequate to the task. If wielded indiscriminately, accountability can actually do more harm than good. This innovative work looks broadly at how accountability is being considered by campuses, accrediting boards, higher education organizations, and governments in the US and abroad. It explores how new demands for accountability and new technologies are changing the way student learning is assessed. The author, one of the most respected assessment researchers in the nation, provides a framework for assessing student learning and discusses historical and contemporary debates in the field. He details new directions in assessment, such as the Collegiate Learning Assessment he helped develop, analyzes exemplary campus assessment programs, and proposes considerations necessary for designing successful accountability systems.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Assessment and accountability policy context; title: Framework for assessing student learning; title: Brief history of student learning assessment : déjà vu all over again; title: The Collegiate Learning Assessment; title: Exemplary campus learning assessment programs; title: On the centrality of information in the demand for accountability; title: Accountability : a delicate instrument; title: State higher education accountability and learning assessment; title: Higher education accountability outside the United States; title: Learning assessment and accountability for American higher education.