Assessing Assessment
The Chronicle of Higher Educationtalked to Dr. George Kuh, and gleaned some of his thoughts on where assessment has been, and where it needs to go. While assessment has come a long way, Kuh says, it still is far from reaching its potential. He feels much of the data gathered is not used as comprehensively as possible, and that the full cycle of assessment–from assessment itself, to analysis of the results, to adjusting for deficiencies and assessing again–isn’t often attained.
The commenters on The Chronicle of Higher Education website offer other opinions on why assessment may not have come full circle yet: Faculty and staff are often wary of assessment, worried it will result in a dumbing-down of their work and firing and hiring strictly based on quantitative measures. How do you think this barrier can be overcome?
