Thriving in Academe
Tales from Real Life

Searching for Answers

“We need help with assessment,” said the caller, a two-year college chemistry professor and assessment committee chair. “Someone said you could show us how to use the classroom grading process for assessment. Can we have lunch?”

Thus began my work with Janice Denton and her colleagues at a branch campus of the University of Cincinnati.

First, we helped faculty articulate their standards and criteria for assessing students’ performance on their disciplinary versions of college-wide learning goals such as “critical thinking,” “quantitative reasoning,” and “effective writing.” Constructing rubrics (see examples under “Best Practices”) allowed faculty to transcend their “this-is-a-B mentality.”

Now they could also say, “The students in this class, on their biology research projects, scored a mean of 3.7 on our 5-point scale for selecting and explaining the materials and methods, but only 2.8 for experimental design.”

Rubrics also helped faculty sharpen their assignments and give better guidance to students.

Grading became more effective for learning in their classrooms. At annual depa0rtmental assessment meetings, faculty shared their rubrics, scores, and plans for change.

Department members encouraged their colleagues’ classroom changes and took department-level action as needed. For example, the department might change its curriculum to include more emphasis on research design. Departments also submitted reports on assessment for accreditors.

For a recent update on this case study, see www.rwc.uc.edu: click on “faculty/staff,” then on “assessment.”

— Barbara E. Walvoord
University of Notre Dame

next "Thriving" article