Assessment and accountability are now inescapable features of the landscape of higher education, and ensuring that these assessments are psychometrically sound has become a high priority for accrediting agencies and therefore also for higher education institutions. Bringing together the higher education assessment literature with the psychometric literature, this book focuses on how to practice sound assessment.
This volume provides comprehensive and detailed descriptions of tools for and approaches to assessing student learning outcomes in higher education. = The book is guided by the core purpose of assessment, which is to enable faculty, administrators, and student affairs professionals with the information they need to increase student learning by making changes in policies, curricula, and other programs.The book is divided into three sections: overview, assessment in higher education, and case studies. The central section looks at direct and indirect measures of student learning, and how to assure the validity, reliability, and fairness of both types. The first six chapters (the first two sections) alternate chapters written by experts in assessment in higher education and experts in psychometrics. The remaining three chapters are applications of assessment practices in three higher education institutions. Finally, the book includes a glossary of key terms in the field.
A Co-Publication with AAC&U and AIR
Table of Contents:
Foreword—Michael J. Kolen Preface Part I. Overview 1. Introduction. History & Conceptual Basis—Peter T. Ewell and Tammie Cumming 2. Theory and Principles of Educational Measurement—Deborah J. Harris Part II. Direct and Indirect Assessment in Higher Education 3. Direct Assessment Methods—Terrell Rhodes and Jennifer Bergeron 4. Validity and Reliability of Direct Assessments—Jon S. Twing and Kimberly J. O’Malley 5. Indirect Assessments in Higher Education—Thomas F. Nelson Laird & Allison BrckaLorenz 6. Validity & Reliability of Indirect Assessments—M. David Miller & John P. Poggio Part III. Case Study Applications 7. NYC College of Technology. General Education Assessment—Tammie Cumming, L. Jay Diener, and Bonne August 8. Texas Christian University Assessment System—Catherine M. Wehlburg 9. University of Florida Assessment System—Timothy S. Brophy Summary Glossary
About the Author :
Tammie Cumming directs the Office of Assessment and Institutional Research (AIR) for the City University of New York – New York City College of Technology. Dr. Cumming has provided educational research and assessment support services in higher education and at ACT, Inc. for more than 25 years and has been an invited speaker on educational assessment and accreditation on an international level, including Brazil, France, Lebanon, Qatar, Russia, United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom. She currently serves as an international Program Assessment Workshop facilitator for ABET (formerly Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology) and has recently served as a U.S. delegate for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Assessment of Higher Education Learning Outcomes task force. She also holds an adjunct appointment at the City University of New York Graduate Center in Educational Psychology. Dr. Cumming earned her PhD in Applied Statistics and Psychometrics from The University of Iowa. M. David Miller is a research methodologist interested in psychometrics and large scale assessment. Dr. Miller also serves as the Director of the Collaborative Assessment and Program Evaluation Services (CAPES) at the University of Florida. CAPES was established to support grant funding in the social sciences by providing expertise in evaluation, assessment and research design. In addition, Dr. Miller has directed the development of the university’s Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP). The QEP is a required part of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools accreditation. The QEP has developed a campus wide initiative to enhance the learning environment for undergraduate students around the theme of internationalization. This initiative, Learning Without Borders: Internationalizing the Gator Nation, includes curricular enhancement, faculty training, a speaker program, co-curricular enhancements, and a new International Scholar program. Dr. Miller has
Review :
“Enhancing Assessment in Higher Education is a unique collection that marries contextually situated treatments of higher education assessment with in-depth examinations of reliability and validity. Cumming and Miller have assembled a valuable resource for both assessment practice and graduate training.”
Alexander C. McCormick, Director, National Survey of Student Engagement, and Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies
Indiana University Bloomington
“Good decision making at every level – classroom, program, institution – is advantaged by high quality, actionable data. The stellar cast of contributors to this timely volume offer a treasure trove of measurement principles, practices and applications that both assessment experts and those new to documenting student learning will find instructive and useful.”
George D. Kuh, Chancellor’s Professor of Higher Education Emeritus
Indiana University
"Enhancing Assessment in Higher Education is a valuable addition to assessment practitioners' bookshelves, especially for those who want a deeper understanding of the vocabulary and methods for evaluating the validity and reliability of their assessments of student learning."
Linda Suskie, Assessment and Accreditation Consultant
