Sustaining a university-wide approach to comprehensive outcomes assessment

In the late 1960s the senior faculty at WPI (Worcester Polytechnic Institute) developed a project-based curriculum, which later lent itself very well to assessing learning outcomes. Well before outcomes assessment became widely discussed and practiced, WPI faculty had begun to assess the outcomes of these projects to determine their pedagogical effectiveness. This growing culture of assessment prepared WPI to respond comparatively quickly to the emphasis in the 1990s that accrediting organizations began to make on assessing learning outcomes. This paper concludes with seven recommendations for a sustainable institution-wide assessment program: involve the faculty early on; balance top down and bottom up; create a campus-wide steering committee; involve faculty governance; establish an early success and build on strength; stress the differences between assessing student learning and grading students; and be politically aware and set reasonable expectations.