ERIC_NO:
ED312727
TITLE:
Assessing the Outcomes of College: Implications for Speech Communication.
AUTHOR:
Backlund, Phil; And Others
PUBLICATION_DATE:
1989
ABSTRACT:
The pressure to assess educational outcomes comes from a variety of national, regional, and state forces. The primary thrust of most current
state initiatives is to encourage institutions to undertake their own
appropriate local assessment efforts. The narrow view of assessment focuses
upon the use of standardized tests to show the outcomes of learning, while
the broader view suggests that effective assessment involves many measurement
methods spaced over a period of time. The primary issue regarding the
purpose of assessment seems to be: Is the student being tested or is the
institution being tested? The favored purpose appears to be a formative
one which gathers information on the quality of college programs in attaining
broadly defined outcomes and promoting change to improve that quality.
A secondary purpose appears to be the need to determine whether or not
students have the abilities that their degrees are supposed to certify.
Each speech communication department around the country will probably
be faced with the assessment issue in one form or another. Administrtors
and faculty members need: (1) a clear statement of anticipated outcomes;
(2) to be actively involved in planning college assessment programs; and
(3) to acquaint themselves with the various standardized measures which
they might choose or which might be chosen for them. (Twenty-four references
are attached.) (MG)
MAJOR_DESCRIPTORS:
Evaluation Methods; Evaluation Problems; Outcomes of Education; Program Evaluation; Speech Communication;
MINOR DESCRIPTORS:
Curriculum Evaluation; Faculty; Higher Education; Testing;
PUBLICATION_TYPE:
150; 120