Funny that this prompt starts with "what gets assessed, gets taught" as we had that exact same phrase uttered at work last week. My professional experience with assessment has not been one that I would characterize as 'positive'. In the twelve years I've been in my School, we've gone from no assessment (outside standard classroom assessments), to three iterations of full-blow program assessment. We started with 39 program learning outcomes which has been distilled down to 4. PLO's went from things like "Students will interpret and evaluate research" to things like "Graduates will be able to describe how communities and individuals interact with/in information ecosystems". Unfortunately, during each of these versions, assessment was seen as an added chore, a requirement of our accrediting body (or in some cases, the University), and something not tied to learning at all.
Unfortunately for our program that is accredited, assessment is geared towards the program. Is the program adding value? Is the program doing what it says it will do? What it is supposed to do? It is not learner-centric. In our last set of revisions, the program faculty, while not explicitly realizing it, attempted to revise the program learning outcomes to be more student-learning-centered. The program has already received some push back from the accrediting agency. With a full re-accreditation review taking place after the first of the year, the outcome will be interesting to say the least.
Perhaps half-way through the last revision, my opinion began to differ somewhat from the faculty's. Taking this course is helping me see that assessment can be, and should be, all about student learning. Reading about the assessment and portfolio defense being done at Envision Schools is allowing me to better see well-done student assessment as an integral part of an effective learning system. I still don't have a clear path to that end-goal in higher ed, but I am more aware than ever that it should be possible.
Having survived one round of ABET accreditation, I was very surprised at how little such an assessment from an accrediting agency can mean. The agency has selected outcomes that are expected to be met. Classes are hand picked to make sure that those outcomes are addressed. Being addressed means X% of students have achieved the desired outcome as evidenced by some means of measurement. It is a very specific single point observation that may never be seen again. I am not sure how continuous improvement can be seen from such assessments.
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