New NILOA Study

Exploring the landscape: What institutional websites reveal about student learning outcomes assessment activities. Jankowski, N. A., & Makela, J. P. (2010, June, Urbana, IL: University of Illinois and Indiana University, National Institute of Learning Outcomes Assessment).

Abstract
Despite persistent calls for colleges and universities to post student learning outcomes assessment information on their web sites, the assessment information that can be found online falls considerably short of the activities reported by chief academic officers. The study finds that institutions are often not taking full advantage of their web site to increase transparency regarding student learning outcomes assessment. The researchers share their findings and offer recommendations for institutions.

View the paper here.

NILOA Mission
The National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA) assists institutions and others in discovering and adopting promising practices in the assessment of college student learning outcomes. Established in 2008, NILOA’s primary objective is to discover and disseminate ways that academic programs and institutions can productively use assessment data internally to inform and strengthen undergraduate education as well as externally to communicate with policy makers, families, and other stakeholders.

NILOA Occasional Paper Series
NILOA Occasional Papers are commissioned to examine contemporary issues and to inform the academic community of the current state of the art of assessing learning outcomes in American higher education.

National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA)


Achieving The Dream – New Edition of Data Notes

The July/August 2010 issue of Data Notes has been released, and can be viewed on the Achieving the Dream web site.

July/August 2010: Gender and Outcomes
This issue of Data Notes looks at student developmental education and gateway course outcomes by gender. The data show that more than half of students were referred to developmental math, with female students being more likely to be referred than male students. Females were more likely to complete any or all levels of developmental math referred to, while males with developmental math needs succeeded at lower rates at each developmental referral level. Across all racial/ethnic groups, males lagged females in first developmental math class completion rates, with Native American/Alaskan Native and Hispanic males fell further behind their female counterparts. In terms of completing gateway math within two years, females in all racial/ethnic groups had a 2 to 3 percentage-point advantage over males.

Round 1, 2, 3, 4, and 2009 Colleges, Data Facilitators and Coaches
You will soon be able to view the individual college’s companion figures to this issue of Data Notes on the Achieving the Dream web submission site. An email will be sent notifying you when these are available for viewing. To view your college’s data, once you sign in to the web submission site using your username and password, select the July/August 2010 issue under the “Reports” menu. 

The JBLA Achieving the Dream Team