Connecting the Dots: Developing Student Learning Outcomes and Outcomes-Based Assessments

Demands for quality at all levels of education are higher than they have ever been. Making clear what students must learn is being stressed by Federal and State governments and by professional and national accreditation organizations.

This book is designed to help faculty and institutions of higher education meet these demands by obtaining, managing, using, and reporting valid outcome attainment measures at the course level; and mapping outcome attainment from the course level to departmental, degree program, and institutional levels, and beyond. It demonstrates how to communicate clearly what students are supposed to know and be able to do; write assessments that measure the expectations; and produce test scores that are valid for their intended use and interpretation, so that valid inferences can be made about students and programs.

It is a “how-to” manual that is rich with guidelines, model forms, and examples that will lead the reader through the steps to “connect the dots” from outcomes assessment to outcomes-based reporting.

This new edition incorporates several enhancements including additional examples, tables, and figures that help clarify and expand the three-level outcomes and assessment model. A new Chapter 9 introduces a census approach to obtaining outcome attainment measures at the program and institutional levels and shows how to link outcome values to outcome statements from outside sources such as national and professional organizations. Chapter 9 concludes with a discussion on obtaining and using outcome attainment values at the student level with the aid of modern technologies.

Ronald S. Carriveau is the Outcomes, Assessment, and Measurement Specialist, and QEP Assistant Director, At the Center for Learning Enhancement, Assessment, and Redesign, University of North Texas, and is the assistant director for the university's Quality Enhancement Plan for accreditation.

Dr. Carriveau earned a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology. He has taught in the public school system, held the position of associate professor at the university level, served as director of assessment at a large school district and at the state department of education, and was a test development manager for a national test publisher. He has consulted nationally and internationally.