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Page
is still under construction!
Colby viewers: If
you know of a link that you think should be on this page, let
me know.
Assessment Links
Foundations, research
centers, think tanks
- Lumina
Foundation: Helping People Achieve Their Potential A private, independent
foundation, strives to help people achieve their potential by expanding
access and success in education beyond high school.
- The
Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Founded by Andrew
Carnegie in 1905 and chartered in 1906 by an act of Congress, The Carnegie
Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching is an independent policy and
research center with a primary mission "to do and perform all things
necessary to encourage, uphold, and dignify the profession of the teacher
and the cause of higher education."
- Association
of American Colleges and Universities: A Voice and a Force for Liberal Education
in the 21st Century (AAC&U) The leading national association committed
to advancing and improving liberal education for all students.
- Policy
Center on the First Year of College The Policy Center on the First Year
of College has as its basic mission the improvement of the beginning college
experience through enhanced learning, success, and retention of new students.
- Education
Sector Education Sector is an independent education policy think
tank. We produce original research and policy analysis and promote outstanding
work by the nation's most respected education analysts.
- NEW!
The
Education Conservancy is a non-profit organization committed to improving
college admission processes for students, colleges and high schools.
- The
Teagle Foundation The Teagle Foundation provides leadership for
liberal education, marshaling the intellectual and financial resources necessary
to ensure that today's students have access to challenging, wide-ranging,
and enriching college educations.
- The
National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education The National
Center for Public Policy and Higher Education will serve as a resource,
a clearinghouse and a constructive critic -- seeking to stimulate, assist
and prod government and higher education toward constructive change.
- American
Council for Higher Education (ACE), the major coordinating body
for all the nation's higher education institutions, seeks to provide leadership
and a unifying voice on key higher education issues and to influence public
policy through advocacy, research, and program initiatives.
- National
Association of Independent Colleges and Universitities
(NAICU) The National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities
(NAICU) serves as the unified national voice of independent higher education.
The NAICU staff meets with policymakers, tracks campus trends, conducts
research, analyzes higher education issues, publishes information, helps
coordinate state-level activities, and advises members of legislative and
regulatory developments with potential impact on their institutions.
- NSSE
Institute The service and research arm of the National Survey of Student
Engagement (NSSE).
Teaching and
learning centers / assessment websites at liberal arts colleges
Federal, state,
and regional resources related to assessment
- Northeast
Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) Commission on Higher Education
NEASC is the regional reaccrediation organization. The standards for reaccreditation
were recently revised and are available on the website or are here,
as well. Colby will be eligible for its decennial reaccrediation in Fall 2007.
- Commission
on the Future of Higher Education (Wikipedia entry) Commission created
by Dept. of Education secretary to examine the future of US higher education,
with special attention to the four issues of access, affordability, quality,
and accountability (for institutional claims about student learning outcomes).
Report published in Sep 2006 is available here.
- NCHEMS
Information Center for State Higher Education and Policy Making Analysis
Great resources for state-by-state comparisons, website is an "effort
to provide higher education policymakers and analysts with the data and information
needed to make sound policy decisions. May become a future home for state
level higher education learning outcomes results.
- NEW!
National
Postsecondary Education Cooperative (NPEC) The National
Postsecondary Education Cooperative (NPEC) is a voluntary partnership of postsecondary
institutions, associations, government agencies, and organizations. NPEC receives
funding from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), U.S. Department
of Education. See links related to student
outcomes. Also see the set of invited
papers to the Symposium on Postsecondary Student Success, November 1-3,
2006.
- NEW!
New
England Board of Education Useful regional resource -- their quarterly
publication Connections contains many articles on trends in higher
education in New England.
Assessment Research
Resources (surveys, methods)
Standardized surveys
conducted at Colby (link connects to instrument or to website with information
as well as blank survey instrument):
- HEDS
Senior Survey (Annual, with graduating seniors in May, 2002 through 2006)
- CIRP
Freshman Survey (Annual, entering first-year students, September, 1971
through 2006)
- Your
First College Year (Completed annually with completing first-years, Spring
2004 through Spring 2006, not planned for Spring 2007)
- Career Services
Survey (Completed annually by Career Services office with graduating seniors).
"In-house"
surveys conducted at Colby (link connects to survey instrument):
Not conducted at
Colby (as of Spring 2007), but considering:
Companies that
produce instruments to assess liberal arts student outcomes
General assessment
resources / links
Higher education
news
- Liberal
Arts College News This
website provides liberal arts college news, editorials, story ideas and source
leads for journalists, and other information relevant to higher education
in the United States.
- Inside
Higher Ed Online magazine with many articles related
to assessment and learning outcomes. Excellent resource for staying abreast
of political environment for assessment.
- The
Chronicle of Higher Education
Primary publication covering academe. Many news articles relate
to assessment issues and politics around assessment.
Interesting
reports and links related to assessment
- NEW!
Seven
Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education
(1987). A much-cited summary of research-based best practices at for liberal
arts colleges.
- Examsmanship
and the Liberal Arts 1963 essay by William G. Perry. An excerpt:
"But sir, I don't think I really deserve it, it was mostly bull, really."
This disclaimer from a student whose examination we have awarded a straight
"A" is wondrously depressing. Alfred North Whitehead invented its
only possible rejoinder: "Yes sir, what you wrote is nonsense, utter
nonsense. But ah! Sir! It's the right kind of nonsense!"
- College
Rankings Reformed 2006 Report by the Education
Sector arguing that US News college rankings should be replaced by rankings
based on "value -added" student learning outcomes.
- A
Test of Leadership: Charting the Future of US Higher Education Report
by US Education Secretary Margaret Spellings which argues, among other things,
for insittutional accountability for learning outcomes.
- NEW!
Greater Expectations:
An AAC&U report that calls for a dramatic reorganization
of undergraduate education to ensure that all college aspirants receive not
just access to college, but an education of lasting value. The panel offers
a new vision that will promote the kind of learning students need to meet
emerging challenges in the workplace, in a diverse democracy, and in an interconnected
world. The report also proposes a series of specific actions and collaborations
to raise substantially the quality of student learning in college.
- NEW!
Counting
and Recounting: Assessment and the Quest for Accountability (Change
magazine, Jan/Feb 2007). Various types of assessments produce results
that tell different stories about a student's educational opportunities and
accomplishments. No instrument can claim to be valid without a clear explanation
of why that particular story is being told.
- NEW!
The
Student as Scholar: Undergraduate Research and Creative Practice AAC&U
sponsored conference.
Colby viewers:
If you know of a link that you think should be on this page, let
me know.
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