Assessing Student Competence in Accredited Disciplines: Pioneering Approaches to Assessment in Higher Education

How do accreditors encourage attention to the assessment of student learning? How do faculty on the campuses respond to these actions by accreditors? What can we learn from the accredited disciplines about defining learning outcomes, promoting thoughtful campus planning for assessment, and improving student competence?

Specialized accrediting bodies stand at the forefront of the assessment movement in higher education and exert important influences on program and institutional assessment and improvement. The academic programs these bodies approve are frequently among the first on a campus to consider ways to assess student competence. This book focuses on their approaches to assessment.

The book opens with two foundation chapters. The first examines the concept of student competence and reviews the historical and political contexts in which assessment takes place. The second reviews best practices in carrying out assessment, including the important roles of faculty development and assessment leadership.

Case studies then describe how faculty in eight professionally oriented disciplines have developed and practiced assessment on their campuses and the lessons these faculty offer to colleagues in their own and other disciplines. The book concludes with chapters on the use of authentic assessment within several disciplines on a single university campus; on the British quality assurance movement; and with a review of the lessons, issues, and challenges that are common across disciplines.

The stories and examples presented in this book covering issues as diverse as faculty and student involvement, the role of outside stakeholders, and balancing external guidance and institutional autonomy–will provide immediate practical guidance for faculty and administrators active in assessment regardless of their discipline.