CLA Project

Benjamin, R., & Chun, M. (2003). A New Field of Dreams: The Collegiate Learning Assessment Project. Peer Review, 5(4), 26-30. Retrieved February 14, 2010, from http://www.aacu.org/peerreview/pr-su03/pr-su03feature2.cfm

The article that I read for this blog posting is on the CLA (Collegiate Learning Assessment Project). The project was designed as a way to assess student learning in an authenticate manner. There are four differences between standard assessment measures and CLA assessment measures.
1. It uses direct measures of student learning.
2. It does not focus on disciplines, but on general education.
3. Uses a matrix-sampling approach. (How students are doing as a group, not individually)
4. It assesses the institution’s contribution to student learning.
The reasoning behind the project is that most institutions feature “General education as the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of an educated person” (Benjamin, p.26).
The assessment measurement has two parts in the CLA project. The first measures “A students ability to read data, make sense of a literature review, analyze an interview and newspaper report, and then synthesize the material and write a response” (Benjamin, p.27).
The second part of the assessment is now part of the GRE exam. It measures two kinds of analytical writing.
The authors found that the test has potential to help institutions make changes to programs based on student learning needs and institutional goals. The ability to analyze learning between institutions is a positive measure for faculty and administrators to identify the needs of their undergraduate students.
My opinion of this article and the CLA project is positive. We expect undergraduates to have credits in general education courses so that they are well prepared in basic knowledge, however many courses in the general education are not looking at whether students are able to synthesize the course’s information, rather they are looking at whether students can recall the information, and there is a huge difference between these two skills. For more information on the CLA project, the web site is: http://www.collegiatelearningassessment.org/