Assessment for Excellence

The Philosophy and Practice of Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education

By (author) Alexander W. Astin, anthony lising antonio

Not available to order

Publication date:

13 July 2012

Length of book:

380 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9781442213630

The second edition of Assessment for Excellence arrives as higher education enters a new era of the accountability movement. In the face of mandates such as results-based funding and outcomes-based accreditation, institutions and assessment specialists are feeling increasingly pressured to demonstrate accountability to external constituencies. The practice of assessment under these new accountability pressures takes on special significance for the education of students and the development of talent across the entire higher education system. This book introduces a talent development approach to educational assessment as a counter to prevailing philosophies, illustrating how contemporary practices are unable to provide institutions with meaningful data with which to improve educational outcomes. It provides administrators, policymakers, researchers, and analysts with a comprehensive framework for developing new assessment programs to promote talent development and for scrutinizing existing policies and practices. Written for a wide audience, the book enables the lay reader to quickly grasp the imperatives of a properly-designed assessment program, and also to gain adequate statistical understanding necessary for examining current or planned assessment policies. More advanced readers will appreciate the technical appendix for assistance in conducting statistical analyses that align with a talent development approach. In addition, institutional researchers will benefit from sections that outline the development of appropriate student databases.
As with its predecessor, this volume is a timely tour de force of clarity in terms of explaining the philosophical, conceptual, and technical underpinnings of how assessment in postsecondary education should be conducted in order to serve students and society.