This study examines the roles and challenges of external quality assurance in reviewing learning outcome assessments of Japanese universities. Following criticism that Japan has overly relied on the difficulty of entrance examination as a quality metric for a given institution, rather than graduates' competencies, there is more pressure for…

"Free college" (sometimes called Promise) programs are common in U.S. higher education. Reviewing 88 studies of 25 state and local programs, I provide a nuanced picture of the mechanisms through which these programs may work and their likely effects on students, communities, and colleges. Some commonly-claimed mechanisms for these…

The intentional scaffolding of research practices and experiences across a 4-year curriculum provides a developmental and sustainable model to guide students to greater independence and ownership of their learning and offers a supportive framework for advancing equity of opportunity and outcomes. Curricular transformation can be a daunting…

The term Assessment and Verification is an integral part of the student achievement and considered as a fundamental function of higher education. Assessment and verification confirm and assures the academic integrity and standard which has a vital impact on student behaviour, colleagues' involvements, the university reputation and finally the…

Assessment of student learning within a degree program is an important but challenging endeavor. One goal of a programmatic assessment is to systematically collect evidence for chemistry majors' knowledge and understanding and to use the results to improve curriculum and instruction. Recently, the chemistry department at the United States Naval…

Economic returns are critical to building a financially secure future and promoting mobility for students. As such, the Postsecondary Value Commission focuses on measuring both the personal and public economic returns from higher education. However, the commission also considers non-economic outcomes both because they are closely tied to economic…

The current literature on early predictors of postsecondary outcomes focuses almost exclusively on the relationship between postsecondary outcomes and students' academic achievements and experiences in middle and high school. These relationships are important, but policymakers and educators might get a more complete picture of how K12 relates to…

As the demand for healthcare professionals increases, Latinos are increasing their representation in healthcare positions. Despite their increased representation, Latinos are more likely to be in healthcare support occupations rather than in healthcare management or professional occupation that offer higher salaries. "Excelencia" has…

One of the many new directions to explore in ePortfolio practice is the relationship between ePortfolio as a classroom pedagogy and its potential to advance general education outcomes assessment. This direction is especially urgent in relation to the increasing demands by employers for competency-focused, higher-order skills, as well as demands by…

On their own, student learning and development outcomes assessment data have limited utility for improving programming. We believe outcomes data should not be collected until two fundamental questions can be answered: "Why should this programming result in the desired outcome?" (i.e., program theory) and "Was the intended…

This paper examines performance differences among demographic groups on the ETS Major Field Test in Business. The study employs the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition technique to analyze the test score differentials by gender and racial minority status. This technique decomposes the difference into two parts: an endowment effect (or explained portion)…

Academic mismatch, the incompatibility between applicants'/students' aptitude and their desired/current academic program, is considered a key predictor of degree attainment. Evaluations of this link tend to be cross-sectional, however, focusing on specific stages of the college pipeline and ignoring mismatch at prior or later stages and their…

In October of 2019, I presented at the IUPUI Assessment Institute in Indianapolis on the topic of academic program review. While almost every campus conducts program reviews, the definition, purpose, structure, and integration of assessment in program reviews is not universally understood, accepted, or implemented. This paper summarizes essential…

"Program Review and Assessment for Continuous Improvement: Asking the Right Questions. Occasional Paper No. 48" summarizes essential questions and discussions campuses should have regarding academic program reviews and the integration of assessment into such reviews. This document contains the following Appendices related to that paper:…

The demand for large-scale assessments in higher education, especially at an international scale, is growing. A major challenge of conducting these assessments, however, is that they require understanding and balancing the interests of multiple stakeholders (government officials, university administrators, and students) and also overcoming…