Assessment From the Ground Up

Donna Engelmann writes about her experience at Alverno College, which has an outcomes-based, developmental curriculum that integrates assessment throughout.

In an article in the Association of American Colleges and Universities' Peer Review, "Can Assessment for Accountability Complement Assessment for Improvement?" Trudy Banta observed that across the country "some faculty in virtually every institution" are trying out the assessment of learning outcomes for their potential for improving student learning. She recommends that we should look very carefully at the validity and reliability of standardized tests before we adopt them wholesale. If we must compare student performance across institutions, in those cases where institutions share learning goals, comparing student performance in relation to common rubrics would give much richer and more relevant evidence of what students are learning than standardized tests. Accountability for results is not inconsistent with assessing to promote student learning, but promoting student learning should always come first. Banta hopes, as I do, that calls for assessment for accountability — what I have called "trickle down assessment" — will not stifle this movement for assessing from the ground up.