All, most or some: Implementation of tiered objectives for ABET assessment in an engineering program

The Purdue School of Materials Engineering´s successful ABET assessment in 2007 relied in part on an innovative approach to setting course objectives set at levels based on the performance expected for all students, most students and some students. By not relying merely on averages and variability or some scaling based on percentiles, faculty may match exam questions and written laboratory report content to a set of tiered objectives. Using the all, most, some system facilitates a systematic approach to document student performance across the curriculum and provides a context for multiple instructors responsible for specific courses to discuss the course objectives and student success in meeting them.