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OVERVIEW. This session introduces the New Leadership Alliance for Student Learning and Accountability, an advocacy organization, and its efforts to lead and support voluntary and cooperative efforts to 1) shape attitudes, practices, and policies, 2) promote the establishment of new professional norm
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1. ACPA Annual Convention
March 28, 2011
David C. Paris, Executive Director
Zaneeta E. Daver, Associate Director
Dora Elias McAllister, Graduate Assistant
Marilee Bresciani, Certification Advisory Board Member
2. OVERVIEW This session introduces the New Leadership Alliance for Student Learning and Accountability, an advocacy organization, and its efforts to lead and support voluntary and cooperative efforts to 1) shape attitudes, practices, and policies, 2) promote the establishment of new professional norms, and 3) to increase public confidence in the quality of undergraduate education provided by American colleges and universities. Program attendees will how learn how student affairs is being included in the Alliances efforts and what their role in this movement should be.
3. WHAT IS ALL THE FUSS ABOUT? The fuss is all about legitimate demands for responsible stewardship, oversight and accountability(and $$$, and power)via accreditation (and regulation?)
The Alliance is a response to the legitimate demands (now more than eversee Arum) that we assess, account for and improve student learning, evidence-based improvement.
Professionalizing higher education with regard to its (broadest) teaching and learning service to its clients.
4. ACCREDITATION: WHO ARE THOSE GUYS? Accreditation is the primary vehicle for quality assurance in the United States.
A brief history: accreditation agenciesessentially private, member formed and dominated, regionally organized to certify institutions (alongside national program accreditation).
The federal postwar transformation: accreditation agencies as gatekeepers for federal aid, programs. The power of the purse suggests an avenue for regulation.
5. THE SPELLINGS COMMISSION AND THE MOST RECENT REAUTHORIZATION The Spellings Commission report (2006): A Nation at Risk goes to college and flirts with No Child Left Behind (testing, testing).
The ensuing battle royal over who will exercise what authority.
Another narrow escape--Lamar Alexander and his warning, If colleges and universities do not accept more responsibility for assessment and accountability, the federal government will do it for them.
6. WHY IS THERE DISSATISFACTION? The dilemmas of a loosely-joined system:
Quality Assurance vs. Compliance
Public Transparency vs. Private Candor
Accountability vs. Assessment
Comparability vs. Difference
How good? / Show me vs. Trust us
More fuss: power is up for grabs new federal regulations (gainful employment) and hearings.
And a basic (universal?) : What are the qualities/outcomes to be measured and how?
7. WHAT IF WE GOVERN US? WHOS WE? Professionalism: expertise, autonomy, the public interest, and self-regulation.
AAUP 1940 Statement of Principles:
The politics of self-regulation.: tenure and the academic as judge.
Professionalism: the academic as scholar and its social context (the public interest?). Autonomy as a blessing and a curse.
What kind of profession are we? The scholar in a future of mass higher education?
A profession without standards? Assessment and accountability as paths to professionalism.
8. ASSESSMENT FOR DUMMIES (BY ONE) We do it all the time in work and everyday life.
If we cant (and shouldnt) avoid it, then we should be aware of how we (can) do it.
Tevye and me: the range of seemingly contradictory options.
From TALK to TQM and all the options and resources in between.
9. THE ALLIANCE: PROMOTING ASSESSMENT AND ACCOUNTABILITY (PROFESSIONALISM) The Alliance, an advocacy-focused organization, will lead and support voluntary and cooperative efforts to move the higher education community towards gathering, reporting on, and using evidence to improve student learning in American undergraduate education.The Alliance envisions a self-directed, professional higher education community that produces an increasing number of college graduates with high quality degrees in preparation for work, life, and responsible citizenship.Through the promotion of shared principles, recommended actions, and innovative initiatives, the Alliance aims:
To shape attitudes, practices, and policies related to gathering, reporting on, and using evidence to improve student learning.
To promote the establishment of new professional norms for gathering, reporting on, and using evidence of student learning.
To increase public confidence in the quality of undergraduate education provided by American colleges and universities.
10. THE ALLIANCE: THREE INITIATIVES Institutional Guidelines: widely endorsed (professional) standards for gathering, reporting on, and using evidence.
Presidents Alliance: 70+ institutions publicly committing to improving their efforts and working together.
Certification: LEED-style recognition program for institutions that do this well (moving the industry).
Each initiative includes institutional level, academic, and co-curricular outcomes.
11. PRESIDENTS ALLIANCE Presidents joining the Alliance are publicly making a commitment to significantly improve assessment of, and accountability for, student learning outcomes on their campuses.
This involves committing to an action plan to build on their institutions previous work to assess, report on, and improve student learning.
They also agree to assist each other in this work, publicly report on their efforts, and encourage other institutions to take similar steps.
12. COMMITMENT TO GATHERING EVIDENCE Improving the gathering of evidence about student learning outcomes by:
Ensuring that your institution collects data on its entire set of common student learning outcomes and how well these are achieved.
Participating in one or more nationally benchmarked data collection processes (examination, portfolio, or survey) and publicly reporting the results, including disaggregated evidence (by race, sex, etc.).
Developing, discussing, and publicizing a campus wide audit of evidence of student learning and student participation in high impact practices for your institution.
Other
13. COMMITMENT TO USING EVIDENCE Expanding the use of evidence on student learning outcomes to improve programs and practices by:
Making the analysis, use, and reporting of evidence of student learning outcomes a prominent and influential factor in the institutions strategic planning or program review process.
Documenting and publicizing significant changes and demonstrable improvements in the quality of academic programs, co-curricular programs, and support services as a result of student learning outcomes assessment.
Other
14. COMMITMENT TO REPORTING EVIDENCE Expanding the reporting on student learning outcomes on- and off-campus to ensure transparency and accountability by:
Developing or improving mechanisms through which student learning outcomes assessment results are shared with faculty, staff, administrators, and students, including opportunities for these groups to meet and review results.
Ensuring that at least once a year the governing board of your institution receives and discusses a report about your efforts to assess student learning outcomes and to use that evidence to improve the quality of academic programs, co-curricular programs, and support services.
Establishing on your institution's website a highly visible and easily accessible location where assessments of student learning and their uses are made public.
Other
15. COMMITMENT TO BUILDING NETWORKS Expanding the noteworthy work on your own campus to other institutions by (for example):
Serving as a resource for other institutions or professional groups who would use your campus as a model for ways to strengthen assessing, reporting on, and improving student learning outcomes.
Joining with other members of the Presidents Alliance at national conferences and events to report progress on achieving this agenda.
Other
16. INSTITUTIONAL CERTIFICATION The Excellent Practice in Student Learning Assessment (EPSLA) institutional certification program, currently under development, recognizes institutional commitment and high-level performance in gathering, reporting, and using evidence to improve student learning outcomes.
An institution that is certified has demonstrated that it is committed to evidence-based improvement of student learning through clarity of aims, strong leadership, sound planning, integrated practices, and transparency.
17. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE CERTIFIED? In order to be certified an institution must be able
to clearly communicate to all audiences and constituencies its educational mission in terms of articulated student learning outcomes
to describe how the entire community is contributing to the accomplishment of the outcomes
show how well it is accomplishing the outcomes and how it knows this
how it is making changes and improvements based on what it knows.
18. CRITERIA 1: LEARNING OUTCOMES An institution will be able to demonstrate that it has explicit and ambitious learning outcomes for the institution as a whole, and that curricular and co-curricular program outcomes align with these institutional outcomes.
Student learning outcome statements clearly articulate what students should be able to do, achieve, demonstrate or know upon graduation.
Appropriate stakeholders were fully involved in establishing student learning outcomes.
Student learning outcome statements are externally benchmarked or informed, reflect generally accepted higher education goals, and are of college-level rigor.
Student learning outcome statements are accessible to internal and external stakeholders.
Student learning outcome statements are easily understood by internal and external stakeholders.
A commitment (ongoing, integrated) to achieving stated learning outcomes is visible in the actions of the entire campus community.
19. CRITERIA 2: GATHERING EVIDENCE An institution will be able to demonstrate that it routinely and systematically gathers evidence of the achievement of student learning outcomes using sound methodologies that allow for judgments of effectiveness using external as well as internal criteria.
There is an articulated and documented assessment plan in place which describes when, how, and how frequently each student learning outcome will be assessed.
The assessment plan embodies principles of good assessment practice.
The assessment plan is supported by adequate and appropriate resources.
The assessment plan is regularly reexamined.
The institution has a chart, diagram, map, narrative or other document to identify the places in the curriculum and cocurriculum students encounter and/or achieve each student learning outcome.
20. CRITERIA 3: USING EVIDENCEEPORT An institution will be able to demonstrate that its leadership (including academic, student affairs, executive, and governing bodies), faculty, and administrators analyze and use evidence to improve programs and services continuously.
Discussions (collaborative analysis and interpretation) about evidence and its use occur.
A plan exists for using evidence to improve student learning that includes a clear decision making process for approving and implementing recommendations.
Evidence is used to make recommendations for institutional, academic, and co-curricular improvements.
Recommendations for improvement are implemented including changes in priorities, changes in program and service offerings, and the allocation or reallocation of resources where appropriate.
The impact of evidence-based changes in programs and practices is continuously reviewed and evaluated.
21. CRITERIA 4: REPORTIG EVIDENCEEPORT An institution will be able to demonstrate that student learning outcome information is reported, published, and available to internal constituencies and to the public.
Reporting on student learning outcomes is directed at the appropriate audiences.
Reporting on student learning outcomes is accessible to internal and external stakeholders.
Reporting on student learning outcomes is easily understood by internal and external stakeholders.
23. WHAT SHOULD STUDENT AFFAIRS ROLE BE IN THIS MOVEMENT? Leadership in Collaborative Implementation
Communication of Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) within institution and outside
Aligning programs and services with SLOs
Directly
Indirectly
Not interfering
Gathering evidence
Initial learning
Applied learning
Transferred learning
24. WHAT SHOULD STUDENT AFFAIRS ROLE BE IN THIS MOVEMENT? Leadership in Collaborative Implementation
Using evidence
Improving the assessment process
Improving the learning experience
Program prioritization
Resource re-allocations
Reporting evidence
Facilitating larger collaborative conversations (internally and externally) and practice and policy recommendations
Promoting transparency to the public
25. WHY THE ALLIANCE? It provides leadership and structure and makes it easier to enact change at the institutional level
It facilitates immediate action at the campus level
Participation is voluntary and the greater the participation the greater change in the community
It fills a void in current efforts NILOA, AALHE, etc.
Nothing like this has been tried
Lots of supporters and constantly growing
26. CONCLUSION: We will be assessing & we will be accountable The most cited reason:
We have to accreditation made me
Some better reasons:
It will restore confidence
It will demonstrate quality
It will preserve autonomy
The most important reasons:
To serve out students better
To ensure learning occurs
27. A MANTRA
Take quality seriously,
assess honestly,
report openly,
improve continuously.
28. JOIN US To stay connected to the Alliance
and receive our newsletter please visit
www.newleadershipalliance.org
and click on the Get Involved tab.
We are also on Facebook and LinkedIn.