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Testing, testing: Can we measure student learning?

Noting that the most important measure of an education is student learning, the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education (NCPPHE) spent the last three years putting a measuring stick to college students’ knowledge and skills. NCPPHE’s new report, Measuring Up on College-Level Learning (www.highereducation.org/report/
mu_learning/index.shtml), shows detailed results from five pilot states and suggests a model that could become a “nationwide benchmark for learning.”

But defining knowledge and measuring fairly can be a sticky enterprise. The new system of accountability makes union leaders wary of increased government and corporate directives, and the subsequent restrictions on academic freedom.

Measuring Up frames two questions as critical:

 What knowledge and skills are available to states for developing the economy and sustaining “vital civic life”?

 How do state colleges and universities contribute to the development of those skills and knowledge?

Focusing on five pilot states—Illinois, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Nevada and South Carolina—the study sets out to determine whether measuring knowledge is possible. With existing licensure and graduate admissions tests, national adult literacy surveys, and other specially administered tests, NCPPHE concludes that it is. These tests include WorkKeys, which tests two-year college students for such skills as extracting information from documents and preparing a business-setting essay; and the Collegiate Learning Assessment, which requires four-year students to use raw biological and historical data to draw conclusions and write persuasive and analytical essays.

Leo Welch, legislative chair of the Illinois Federation of Teachers Community College Council, warns that the center’s methods are flawed. Welch points out that testers bribed students to take the tests by offering free pizzas, parking passes and money, conceivably skewing results. Existing accrediting agencies, along with graduate record exams, entry exams and licensures, are already sufficient accountability measures, he adds. And the cost of a new accountability system soars to $17 million nationwide: “With diminishing resources, why add this burden?” asks Welch.

Merit-based funding, which relies on test performance, threatens institutions that may not show the “right” results for years, Welch continues. Even the basic impulse to compare state to state is wrong, says Welch, when states are so disparate. Nevada, for example, has two public universities and four community colleges; Illinois has 12 public universities and 48 community colleges. “How do you compare using a single type of test?”

Besides, says Welch, “before we look at another accountability measure, where is the accountability of the federal government and the state for funding higher education? It appears this is not a priority [in] budget allocations. Let’s look at the support of public higher education."

 

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Faculty concerned about student preparation
 
Less than half of college and university faculty are satisfied with the academic quality of the students in their classrooms, according to the Higher Education Research Institute, whose findings echo ACT results released earlier this year. Both reports indicate a troubling lack of preparation for college courses.

HERI shows just 36 percent of faculty respondents think faculty on their campuses consider students well-prepared for college work. Forty-one percent say their own students lack the skills they need in the classroom. At the same time, 70 percent of the students surveyed rated themselves above average or in the highest 10 percent academically.

The triennial report, The American College Teacher: National Norms for the 2004-2005 HERI Faculty Survey, covers a plethora of other intriguing issues. For example:

 Faculty believe critical thinking and mastery of a discipline are the most important components of education.

 A “graying” professoriate shows 21 percent of surveyed faculty earned degrees before 1976; these “advanced career” professionals lecture more than younger profs, who use student-centered methods like cooperative learning, group projects, presentations, reflective writing and student evaluations.

 Faculty value public service—81 percent feel a responsibility to surrounding communities.

 Diversity is revered, with 90 percent favoring a racially and ethnically diverse student body. Faculty differ, however, on whether that diversity should appear in the curriculum or in admissions.

 Stress is an undeniable fact for faculty, who struggle with self-imposed expectations, managing households and lack of personal time. Women are more likely than men to report these stressors in the survey.

The study also examines job satisfaction, career goals, technology and health (just one-third of the surveyed faculty say they get enough sleep).

HERI’s survey was based on 40,670 full-time faculty respondents at two-year colleges, four-year colleges and universities nationwide. To learn more about the report, see www.gseis.ucla.edu/
heri/heri.html.

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