The role of the state government in higher education assessment is clearly expanding as both the state's interest and investment in higher education grows. Currently, patterns of state involvement vary widely--from indirect incentive programs to direct legislation or regulatory action. Institutional assessment and the resulting reform must be…

Provides background information on the move toward competency testing in composition and the subsequent implications for college writing instructors. Examines problems inherent to developing a comptency based program at the college level and what composition teachers need to be aware of regarding such testing. (HTH)

Addressing often neglected broad issues, rather than the pragmatics of test development and administration, this Conference on Minimum Competency Achievement Testing was organized around six topics: (1) social and philosophical roots, uniqueness among testing movements, and policy issues; (2) legal, curricular, and social-demographic consequences;…

Discusses the design and scoring of the writing proficiency exam conducted at San Francisco State University. Explains the program's counseling system for those students who do not pass the proficiency exam. (HTH)

The British debate over whether college teaching faculty should also be allowed to test their students, or to participate in curriculum design, is examined in the context of the history of British higher education. The evolution of an external, relatively standardized testing system to promote consistency in achievement standards is chronicled.…

The evolution of the relationship between the College Entrance Examination Board and the Educational Testing Service is outlined, and five aspects of the current cooperative relationship are noted: contractual agreements, shared tasks, specific membership needs, moral obligations to the educational community, and tradition. (MSE)

"Options in Education" is a radio news program which focuses on issues and developments in education. This transcript contains discussions of federal money for colleges and universities; the high school proficiency test in California; the writing problems of college students; letters from listeners about schooling and jobs; the Arts…

Argues against large-scale, federally funded, census approaches to measuring higher education outcomes, outlining specific problems. Discusses the effects of tests as instruments of educational reform, the cross-discipline transfer of higher-order skills, and the technology of setting performance standards. Places measurement within the broader…

In 1976, the American College Testing Program (ACT) organized the College Outcome Measures Project (COMP) to design, develop, validate, and implement assessment materials for measuring the knowledge and skills that are expected of general education college graduates and that are important to functioning effectively in adult society. The Composite…

Reviews the process whereby Metropolitan State College (Colorado) developed a series of recommendations concerning the assessment of student learning. Discusses problems encountered and offers a sampling to show the style and detail of the recommendations. (DMM)

The educational assessment movement holds considerable promise for encouraging college faculty to exercise collective responsibility to improve the quality of learning. Current efforts toward improving higher education include the Association of American Colleges' report, "Integrity in the College Curriculum"; William J. Bennett's…

Accrediting associations assess colleges in order to find out what has been accomplished, and to find out how it might be better accomplished. Assessment of educational outcomes can be a useful way to demonstrate the success of alternative means. However, accrediting agencies do not rely exclusively on outcome measures, since they only assess what…

Reasons for the literacy problem on college and university campuses and the role of higher education in confronting this problem are discussed. Many young people today lack English skills necessary for holding a job, and students entering college are deficient in basic language skills. Some educators feel that college admission standards should be…

As part of a discussion of academic planning for the future decades, a proposition is offered that there is little likelihood that any good ideas advanced at the conference can be adopted, and bad changes will be made, unless ways are developed for higher education professionals to approach each other more effectively. An example is cited from…

For college-level American History, in the high school advanced placement (AP) program and on university campuses, these are the best of times and the worst of times. For the American History AP program, the early 1970's were difficult times, with the examinations under attack as elitist and irrelevant to contemporary problems. The program…