Decades of research suggest that faculty play a critical role in student learning and success, yet at many institutions, faculty are not integrated into the institutional research function. This chapter examines how institutional research and faculty can collaborate to encourage data-informed faculty decision-making to drive student success and…

Most institutional research (IR) practitioners lack access to direct measures of longitudinal student learning, let alone assessment instruments systematically embedded into the curriculum that yield representative cognitive gain data controlling for student motivation. Typically, measures of student learning growth rest on findings from survey…

Research studies show that high school experiences, engagement, and academic achievement, as well as entering expectations and attitudes, are important predictors of student success. Therefore, to better understand first-year student engagement, it makes sense to consider the backgrounds and precollege characteristics of entering college students.…

Most assessment arguments are about measurement. When is it better to use direct versus indirect measures of student learning? Is one standardized test of critical thinking better than another? Is applying rubrics to student work better than using standardized tests? How valid are self-reported measures of learning? Although these arguments are…