Enhancing Assessment in Higher Education : Putting Psychometrics to Work

Co-published with AIR. Published in association with AAC&U Assessment and accountability are now inescapable features of the landscape of higher education, and ensuring that these assessments are psychometrically sound has become a high priority for accrediting agencies and therefore also for higher education institutions. Bringing together the higher education assessment literature with the psychometric literature, this book focuses on how to practice sound assessment. This volume provides comprehensive and detailed descriptions of tools for and approaches to assessing student learning outcomes in higher education. The book is guided by the core purpose of assessment, which is to enable faculty, administrators, and student affairs professionals with the information they need to increase student learning by making changes in policies, curricula, and other programs. The book is divided into three sections: overview, assessment in higher education, and case studies. The central section looks at direct and indirect measures of student learning, and how to assure the validity, reliability, and fairness of both types. The first six chapters (the first two sections) alternate chapters written by experts in assessment in higher education and experts in psychometrics. The remaining three chapters are applications of assessment practices in three higher education institutions. Finally, the book includes a glossary of key terms in the field.