Resize Text: Times of threshold change, such as the transformation from the industrial era to the knowledge economy of today, produce pressures to redesign the institutions we live with to respond to or, better, shape this change. In America’s knowledge economy, there is broad agreement that the only way to preserve the nation’s economic edge will be through constant innovation, the creation of ideas that produce new economic value, for which a highly educated workforce is necessary. So, since education is the principal venue for human capital development, it is not surprising that the public gaze has turned to schools and colleges. Specifically, the public and its representatives want to know about the nature and quality of educational outcomes that those institutions generate.
In this context, one of the most contentious questions currently being debated is whether or not it is possible or desirable to assess and publicly communicate about learning outcomes in a way that permits comparisons between institutions. I contend that comparative assessments are essential and practical: although we cannot measure all dimensions of learning, it is perfectly possible to comparatively assess the higher-order thinking skills that are etched in most collegiate mission statements, thought to be particularly important in the knowledge economy, and shared by most educators as key aims of instruction: critical thinking, analytical reasoning, problem solving, and writing. I also argue that such assessments are a critical part of larger efforts to develop better approaches to teaching and learning—goals all educators share. And finally, I make the case for assessing learning in a way that reveals the “value added” by the institution to students’ intellectual development.
Roger Benjamin is president of the Council for Aid to Education (CAE), which developed and administers the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA). He served previously as director of RAND Education, provost at the Universities of Minnesota and Pittsburgh, and professor of political science at the University of Minnesota.
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