Most institutional research (IR) practitioners lack access to direct measures of longitudinal student learning, let alone assessment instruments systematically embedded into the curriculum that yield representative cognitive gain data controlling for student motivation. Typically, measures of student learning growth rest on findings from survey…

The authors begin this chapter by revisiting Astin, Panos, and Creager (1967), who developed a conceptual scheme to guide the selection of various types of measurements organized by three dimensions: (1) type of outcome; (2) type of data; and (3) time. In assessing basic skills, general education, and attainment of the major, the focus is on…