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ASSESSING CHANGE: OBSERVATIONS
ON LEARNING OUTCOMES AND MEASUREMENT
DIANNE LONG
CAL POLY SAN LUIS OBISPO
Paper presented at the APSA Teaching and Learning Conference,
Washington, D. C. February 17-20, 2006
ABSTRACT
The guild of scholars at universities and colleges is under attack from many quarters to prove that
learning has occurred. This paper looks at key concepts on outcomes and measurement and
their application to measuring change in student learning. The paper reviews research tools
available for undertaking assessments and provides a sketch of what is underway in the
California State University System with its 23 campuses.
BACKGROUND
This is a preliminary draft of a small study of sources for assessing change and observations on
learning outcomes and measurement in the California State University System of twenty-three
campuses. It represents the efforts in investigation by students in a research design seminar
critiquing resources available on the web and laying out the activities at CSU campuses. The
beginning summarizes web-based resources for assessing change. The later section summarizes
what CSU campuses present in the way of assessment explanation and reports on web sites.
This paper represents student investigation and summarizes our joint work together in fall 2005.
RESOURCES FOR ASSESSING CHANGE
C.A.R.T.
http://cart.rmcdenver.com
There are numerous assessment strategies that can be used for good outcomes assessment.
Quality assessment involves the development of incremental, meaningful, manageable, and
sustainable assessment practices. The Compendium of Assessment and Research Tools (CART)
is a database that provides information on instruments that can be used to measure attributes
related to youth development programs. As a database, CART provides information from various
sources that are helpful in assessment.
Users can benefit from a database that is easy to control via its browse and search boxes and
links to the help and definitions on the database. The domains are also great assessment tools
since they have subheadings for variables that users may encounter or have not thought about
including when developing a program. The CART database provides information on:
•
A brief narrative of the instruments
•
The target population for the instrument
•
Contact information for obtaining the instrument
•
Other factors that should direct its use
The CART database identifies instruments that measure variables in three domains, or broad
topics of investigation for the development of youth programs. Each of the three domain areas
has three supplementary subcategories that can be assessed for more information. Since the
domain areas represent all the possible variables that could be considered when measuring
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