Institutional researchers must bring measurement theorists and assessment practitioners together to develop new and more suitable methods for assessing developmental changes in groups of students. (Author/MLW)

New federal regulations that require all regional accrediting agencies to "place greater emphasis on the consistent assessment of student achievement as a principle element in the accreditation process" will have a large impact on student development professionals. Measuring student development outcomes is discussed. (MLW)

The questions of purposes and methods as related to assessment of student learning are considered. It is difficult to find assessment invoked without a parallel call for improvement, particularly improved teaching and learning. Also, much attention has focused on problematic dimensions of measuring what students learn, but the fundamental set of…

Calls for discontinuing the teaching of the "masterpieces" and modern art in the British primary school. Argues that images of a wider, more accessible kind should form basis of primary visual education. Concludes that children should have a foundation in disciplines such as history, sociology, and art before sophisticated visuals are…

Seven responses to a U.S. Department of Education report assessing programs and services for talented and gifted children are presented by Charles F. Desmond, James R. Delisle, Gail E. Hanninen, Anthony Miserandino, Stephanie Tolan, John F. Feldhusen, and James J. Gallagher. (JDD)

Whether college is worth what it costs is reviewed in this summarization of the author's book, "Investment in Learning." A survey of the literature leads to the following four conclusions. (1) that the economic returns of higher education, in the form of higher earnings, improved technology, and a higher gross national product, alone offset the…

Discusses how the current management perspective in assessing student outcomes can be redirected so that assessment is used primarily to promote student development and to enhance learning. Defines assessment; describes development of an assessment program, including determining goals and assessment needs, when and how to assess, and choice of…

Asserts that Catholic schools throughout America continue to make remarkable contributions to our nation's intellectual and moral growth. Highlights the impressive results of Catholic schools in teaching, student learning, graduation rates and retention, moral development, and the alleviation of resources for public schools. Presents the text of a…

Three factors in the 1990s will increase the importance of schools in the development of children. First, the character of schools will change as more students with special educational needs are integrated into mainstream classes. Second, efforts will be made to keep these students out of specialized teaching arrangements and in normal classrooms.…

College outcomes evaluation is discussed in two papers. In "The Political Economy of Assessment," Joseph P. O'Neill considers standards of accountability, American reliance on faculty to assess, and the danger of validating quality by external examination. By using the credit-hour system, a quantity indicator (time), is used as a…

Three presentations from the Third National Conference on Assessment in Higher Education are included. In "Assessment and Human Values: Confessions of a Reformed Number Cruncher," Alexander W. Astin, focuses on measuring education productivity, assessment lessons from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program, a talent-development…

The "value-added" conception of excellence in education, unlike any traditional view, focuses on the ability of a school or college to affect its students favorably and equitably. It focuses on changes in the student from the beginning to the end of the educational program. The "value-added" approach would involve the testing…

State colleges and universities (SUs) are being forced by critics of higher education to reassess themselves and redirect their efforts. There is a movement to discover a simplistic and valid means of measuring excellence in higher education. Measuring student outcomes cuts through all the difficulties created by more standard attempts to find a…

Describes the philosophy and practical steps involved in doing outcomes assessment on student services. Discusses several assessment models, with special attention placed on Nichol's outcomes assessment template. Describes the process as applied at Lower Columbia College (Washington). (Contains two tables and seven references.) (NB)

The quality of undergraduate education is presented as the key issue confronting colleges and universities nationwide, and it is noted that college faculty can do much to enhance the curriculum. It is up to them to see that the curriculum accomplishes the educational purpose it espouses and that it maintains integrity and coherence. However, when…