Institutions of higher education are asked to consider how their work can advance equity in institutional outcomes. Assessment, too, has been asked to consider the ways in which traditional student assessment "privileges and validates certain types of learning and evidence of learning over others" (Montenegro and Jankowski 2017, p. 5).…

Open-ended responses to surveys can be highly beneficial to higher education institutions, providing clarity and context that quantitative data can sometimes lack. However, analyzing open-ended responses typically takes time and manpower most institutional assessment offices do not have to spare. This study focused on finding a potential solution…

Higher education research consistently finds that student attrition is caused by a lack of academic and social engagement. Many colleges and universities are now experimenting with living-learning communities in one form or another in order to enhance student-college fit. Rollins College, a selective comprehensive institution with a successful…

During the 2006 Spring semester, student affairs administrators at West Virginia University called on all student affairs units to develop assessment plans that focused on student learning. Student affairs units were required to begin their assessment plans by selecting at least one learning outcome to measure. The Assessment Council, ten…

Most publications on outcomes assessment take a holistic approach: they focus more on the whole of assessment than on its components. They describe entire academic assessment programs and their cumulative impact on institutional effectiveness. Some evaluation articles characterize assessment components such as instruments, findings, and use of…

In autumn 2003, the author conducted a study of the best practices in linking assessment and strategic planning in higher education by visiting three institutions that represent models in integrating these processes. Information was gathered by interviewing faculty, staff, and administrators involved in the institutions' strategic planning or…