Choosing a Published Instrument to Assess Student Learning

With acronyms like MAPP, CAAP, C-BASE, CLA, NSSE, iSkills, it’s hard to keep track of the latest in published instruments to assess student learning. And with so many standardized assessment tools available, how do you know the best one for your school?

When it comes to evaluating published instruments for student assessment, it’s all about the questions. In this case, the questions we’re referring to are not the ones on the test, although they need to be examined as well, but the questions you ask yourself and the questions you ask of the instrument publishers.

Presented by Linda Suskie, vice president of the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, this seminar teaches you what questions you need to ask to determine whether published instruments should be part of your assessment program, and if so, which ones.

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Here’s just some of what you will learn by watching this seminar:

• The difference between published and local instruments.
• The relative advantages and disadvantages of published and locally-developed assessment tools.
• The key features of some of today’s most popular published tests and surveys.
• Sources of further information on published instruments, and ways to interpret and critically analyze that information.
• The essential questions that must be addressed as you plan the administration of an assessment program.
• Effective ways to get students to take the tests seriously.
• Strategies for acting on the results.
• The appropriate role of published instruments in your assessment program.

Any assessment decision, particularly one with far-reaching effects like deciding which published instrument to go with, is a sensitive topic full of potential landmines. Before you begin, it’s important to involve faculty in the search and selection process.

Who will benefit from this seminar:

• Faculty
• Faculty Development Personnel
• Academic Affairs Personnel
• Academic Administrators
• Department Chairs
• Academic Deans
• Continuing/Extension Education Personnel

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“In order to choose the right assessment instrument, you have to ask the right questions,” says Linda Suskie, vice president of the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.

In the recent seminar, Choosing a Published Instrument to Assess Student Learning, Suskie discussed the benefits of published instruments and outlined the important questions to ask when evaluating assessment tools for your school. The important thing to remember, she says, is there is no one instrument that will match the goals of every higher education institution so you have to do your homework to find the best one for you.

Questions to Ask When Evaluating Published Assessment Instruments

Does it match our needs? Review the assessment instrument’s stated purpose and objectives and make sure they align with your philosophy and goals as well as what you teach. Also make sure that the results of the test include actionable information.

Is it practical to administer? Contact the publisher to find out how much the test costs and exactly how much time is required for planning and administering the assessment. Tests that must be taken in one two-hour sitting or require a computer lab can create logistical complications for campuses where most courses are 50-minutes long.

Is there any cultural or gender bias? Although any reputable publisher goes to great lengths to ensure a bias-free test, it’s always a good idea to examine sample questions and past editions through the lens of your students’ experiences for offensive material or words that might not have common meaning.

Does it truly measure what it purports to measure? This is where you dig into test validity. Do test scores have appropriate correlations with grades as well as other tests? Do subscores have appropriate intercorrelations?

Are scores consistent? Score consistency in test/re-test scenarios as well as between forms will tell you how reliable this particular assessment tool is.

What do the score reports look like? Test results, and what you do with them, are at the heart of any initiative to assess student learning. Find out what kind of reports you will receive from the publisher. How useful is the feedback? Is it easy to understand and share with faculty? Will they tell you what you are doing right as well as what you’re doing wrong?

A good source for identifying potential instruments to review is the Buros Institute of Mental Measurements Yearbooks and Tests in Print.