Exemplars of Assessment in Higher Education: Diverse Approaches to Addressing Accreditation Standards

Co-published with  

“While assessment may feel to constituents like an activity of accountability simply for accreditors, it is most appropriate to approach assessment as an activity of accountability for students. Assessment results that improve institutional effectiveness, heighten student learning, and better align resources serve to make institutions stronger for the benefit of their students, and those results also serve the institution or program well during the holistic evaluation required through accreditation.”

– from the foreword by Heather Perfetti, President of the Middle States Commission on Higher Education

Colleges and universities struggle to understand precisely what is being asked for by accreditors, and this book answers that question by sharing examples of success reported by schools specifically recommended by accreditors. This compendium gathers examples of assessment practice in twenty-four higher education institutions: twenty-three in the U.S. and one in Australia. All institutions represented in this book were suggested by their accreditor as having an effective assessment approach in one or more of the following assessment focused areas: assessment in the disciplines, co-curricular, course/program/institutional assessment, equity and inclusion, general education, online learning, program review, scholarship of teaching and learning, student learning, or technology. These examples recommended by accrediting agencies makes this a unique contribution to the assessment literature.

The book is organized in four parts. Part One is focused on student learning and assessment and includes ten chapters. The primary focus for Part Two is student learning assessment from a disciplinary perspective and includes four chapters. Part Three has a faculty engagement and assessment focus, and Part Four includes four chapters on institutional effectiveness and assessment, with a focus on strategic planning.

This book is a publication of the Association for the Assessment of Learning in Higher Education (AALHE), an organization of practitioners interested in using effective assessment practice to document and improve student learning.

Jane Marie Souza, PhD, serves as the Associate Provost for Academic Administration/Chief Assessment Officer and Accreditation Liaison Officer at the University of Rochester. She served as the 2019-2020 president of the Association for the Assessment of Learning in Higher Education and previously served as editor for the organization’s publication, Intersection. Dr. Souza has served on accreditation teams for the New England Commission on Higher Education, Middle States Commission on Higher Education, Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education, and Council on Podiatric Medical Education, where she was a member of the Council 2016-2019. Dr. Souza has been involved with assessment in education since the 1990s when her class was designated a “Lighthouse” site in the state of Massachusetts for her work with curricular alignment and assessment. While working with pharmacy education 2011- 2015, she was elected chair of the Assessment Special Interest Group of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy and recognized with an Excellence in Assessment award. Dr. Souza served as an assessment consultant for institutions across the country, offering workshops on the use of technology in the classroom, mapping curricular outcomes, and meeting accreditation standards through effective assessment. She has presented at conferences including the Association for Institutional Research, Middle States Commission on Higher Education, Association for the Assessment of Learning in Higher Education, Drexel Assessment Conference (keynote), Assessment Institute in Indianapolis (section keynote), Texas A&M, and Association for Medical Education in Europe. Dr. Souza holds a Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration from the University of Nebraska, an M.Ed. in Curriculum Development from Curry College, and BA in English from the University of Massachusetts.

Tara A. Rose, PhD, is the Director of Assessment at Louisiana State University. Working collaboratively with faculty, staff, and administrators, she leads academic quality efforts at the course, program, and university levels that reflect current trends and best practices in higher education. Tara has 20 years of experience in assessment and outcomes analyses. She began her career with a nonprofit organization and has also spent time at the state level working for the Kentucky Legislative Research Commission and the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education. She previously served as the Director of Assessment at the University of Kentucky and has also taught at Eastern Kentucky University in the Department of Homeland Security. Since 2010, Tara has participated as a Board Member on the Association for the Assessment of Learning in Higher Education (AALHE), previously holding the position of President in AY 2015-16. In 2019, Dr. Rose was appointed as Senior Fellow with the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). Dr. Rose holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy & Administration, a Master’s in Public Administration (both from Walden University), an MS in Criminal Justice, and a BS in Corrections and Juvenile Services (both from Eastern Kentucky University).