There is growing interest in incorporating multiple voices and ways of knowing into assessment efforts. Attention to incorporating multiple approaches to measuring student learning increases equity in assessment (Montenegro and Jankowski 2017) and promotes engagement with a variety of stakeholders with diverse perspectives on knowledge. However,…

To help faculty connect programmatic assessment with the advancement of their own scholarly agenda, a professional development series was created that introduces faculty to the mutual benefits of the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) and academic program assessment. An additional benefit to faculty for participating in assessment…

This article discusses the author's belief that if assessment is going to have an impact, it must be woven into the larger tapestry that tells the tale of a student experience that leads to student and institutional success. Included are considerations for how to design meaningful ways to measure movement on the things that people care about.

National Assessment Week (NAW) is a series of virtual events dedicated to advancing assessment practices in higher education. This annual event occurs during the first full week of April and represents a concentrated effort to foster assessment dialogue across the nation's colleges and universities. With a mission to enhance assessment practices…

When considering institutional transformation, assessment is not always the first thought as a key tool for change. Assessment is often framed as a matter of compliance. However, when implemented effectively and intentionally, assessment becomes a powerful tool for continuous improvement. Taking place during the 2025 International Conference on…

This article is excerpted from the book "Exemplars of Assessment in Higher Education, Volume Two" (Souza and Rose) and includes an excerpt from Howard University (Phillips). There is a complex relationship between institutional (formerly regional) accrediting bodies and institutions of higher education. Though we believe that accreditors…

Auburn University engaged in the reaffirmation process with SACSCOC (institutional accreditor) and received recommendations surrounding assessment practices. It was from these recommendations that the Office of Academic Assessment (OAA) was created in July 2015, providing dedicated assessment support to faculty responsible for educational…

In this column, the author revisits who we are as assessment professionals, how we are trained, what our role is, and what our responsibilities are--to ourselves as a community, to our colleagues in education, at our institution, and to those we serve-- especially from an equity lens. They also share a few strategies to address the gaps they see.

In response to the national excitement around course embedded assessment, various campuses and state-wide college systems engaged in faculty development in assignment prompt development drawn from the literature focused on creating assignments for the classroom. However, while the literature is replete with frameworks, templates, guides,…

In this article, Julia So discusses the purpose of program assessment, four common missteps of program assessment and reporting, and how to prevent them. The four common missteps of program assessment and reporting she has observed are: (1) unclear or ambiguous program goals; (2) measurement error of program goals and outcomes; (3) incorrect unit…

To be successful in producing improvement, assessment must be "part of a larger set of conditions that promote change" (Astin et al. 1992). To identify the enduring principles likely to produce the specific conditions to promote change, the author turned to two sources: (1) W. Edwards Deming's classic 1982 book, "Out of the Crisis:…

Assessment of student learning is a necessary and important practice for which many institutions report faculty engagement and use of assessment data as challenges. With a number of individual and institutional barriers at play, motivation can be a relevant influence for which to examine engagement in assessment work and data-informed action for…

Is assessment a top-down bureaucratic mandate, an undertaking that seems to have little to do with improving practice, an inauthentic activity that frustrates and disempowers, an afterthought? Or is it a process embraced and enacted together by all stakeholders as a means to learn and grow and enact change in the world? The authors of the…

At the University of Hawai'i at Manoa (UH Manoa), the journey toward Culturally responsive and Equity-minded Assessment (CEA) has been grounded in a guiding belief: that lasting change is driven by both structural supports and leaders of change. CEA practice requires faculty and staff to be very thoughtful, intentional, and critical in the…

Walsh University's process of seeking more effective assessment practices has identified an overarching theme of university-wide continuous improvement resulting in several initiatives. The categories of these initiatives can be described as new formats in leadership, unique and collaborative improvements across campus, strategies in alignment…