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.
Author(s): Richard Shavelson
Year: 2009
Language: English
Pages: 256
Contents......Page 6
Figures and Tables......Page 7
Preface......Page 9
Abbreviations......Page 16
1. Assessment and Accountability Policy Context......Page 20
2. Framework for Assessing Student Learning......Page 27
3. Brief History of Student Learning Assessment......Page 40
4. The Collegiate Learning Assessment......Page 63
5. Exemplary Campus Learning Assessment Programs......Page 89
6. The Centrality of Information in the Demand for Accountability......Page 121
7. Accountability: A Delicate Instrument......Page 140
8. State Higher-Education Accountability and Learning Assessment......Page 152
9. Higher-Education Accountability Outside the United States......Page 180
10. Learning Assessment and Accountability for American Higher Education......Page 202
Notes......Page 230
References......Page 236
Index......Page 250
