Enhancing Assessment in Higher Education Putting Psychometrics to Work

Foreword—Michael J. Kolen Preface Part I. Overview 1. Introduction. History & Conceptual Basis—Peter T. Ewell and Tammie Cumming 2. Theory and Principles of Educational Measurement—Deborah J. Harris Part II. Direct and Indirect Assessment in Higher Education 3. Direct Assessment Methods—Terrell Rhodes and Jennifer Bergeron 4. Validity and Reliability of Direct Assessments—Jon S. Twing and Kimberly J. O’Malley 5. Indirect Assessments in Higher Education—Thomas F. Nelson Laird & Allison BrckaLorenz 6. Validity & Reliability of Indirect Assessments—M. David Miller & John P. Poggio Part III. Case Study Applications 7. NYC College of Technology. General Education Assessment—Tammie Cumming, L. Jay Diener, and Bonne August 8. Texas Christian University Assessment System—Catherine M. Wehlburg 9. University of Florida Assessment System—Timothy S. Brophy Summary Glossary

Biography

Tammie Cumming directs the Office of Assessment and Institutional Research (AIR) for the City University of New York – New York City College of Technology. Dr. Cumming has provided educational research and assessment support services in higher education and at ACT, Inc. for more than 25 years and has been an invited speaker on educational assessment and accreditation on an international level, including Brazil, France, Lebanon, Qatar, Russia, United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom. She currently serves as an international Program Assessment Workshop facilitator for ABET (formerly Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology) and has recently served as a U.S. delegate for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Assessment of Higher Education Learning Outcomes task force. She also holds an adjunct appointment at the City University of New York Graduate Center in Educational Psychology. Dr. Cumming earned her PhD in Applied Statistics and Psychometrics from The University of Iowa. M. David Miller is a research methodologist interested in psychometrics and large scale assessment. Dr. Miller also serves as the Director of the Collaborative Assessment and Program Evaluation Services (CAPES) at the University of Florida. CAPES was established to support grant funding in the social sciences by providing expertise in evaluation, assessment and research design. In addition, Dr. Miller has directed the development of the university’s Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP). The QEP is a required part of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools accreditation. The QEP has developed a campus wide initiative to enhance the learning environment for undergraduate students around the theme of internationalization. This initiative, Learning Without Borders: Internationalizing the Gator Nation, includes curricular enhancement, faculty training, a speaker program, co-curricular enhancements, and a new International Scholar program. Dr. Miller has

“Enhancing Assessment in Higher Education is a unique collection that marries contextually situated treatments of higher education assessment with in-depth examinations of reliability and validity. Cumming and Miller have assembled a valuable resource for both assessment practice and graduate training.”

Alexander C. McCormick, Director, National Survey of Student Engagement, and Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

Indiana University Bloomington

“Good decision making at every level – classroom, program, institution – is advantaged by high quality, actionable data. The stellar cast of contributors to this timely volume offer a treasure trove of measurement principles, practices and applications that both assessment experts and those new to documenting student learning will find instructive and useful.”

George D. Kuh, Chancellor’s Professor of Higher Education Emeritus

Indiana University

"Enhancing Assessment in Higher Education is a valuable addition to assessment practitioners' bookshelves, especially for those who want a deeper understanding of the vocabulary and methods for evaluating the validity and reliability of their assessments of student learning."

Linda Suskie, Assessment and Accreditation Consultant