Press Release

Contact: Debra Humphreys
202-387-3760 ext. 422
Humphreys@aacu.org

Higher Expectations, Critical Learning Outcomes, and Culminating Projects Key to Higher Education Accountability

Standardized Tests of Basic Skills and Graduation Rates Inadequate Measures of Student Learning, National Association Contends

Washington, DC—September 9, 2004—The board of directors of the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) has released a statement presenting a new framework for higher education accountability. This statement, Our Students' Best Work: A Framework for Accountability Worthy of Our Mission, challenges current politically popular ideas that threaten to shortchange today's college students by holding them to standards that are too low and applying inappropriate measures to evaluate their achievement.

AAC&U's statement takes a stand for educational excellence and against reductionist, one-best-answer assessments. It calls instead for assessments that measure higher-order learning gains in such areas as critical thinking, evidence-based reasoning, integration of knowledge and ideas, and application of knowledge to real-world problems in different disciplinary domains.

"At a time when nearly all high school graduates aspire to a college degree, policy makers are rightly concerned about ensuring that all graduates receive a quality education that will serve them well throughout their lives," says Elisabeth Zinser, AAC&U board chair and president of Southern Oregon University. "Colleges should be accountable to all their students and should make clear to the public how their students are doing in achieving key learning outcomes. But, if we are to serve our students' interests with integrity, we must assess their best work, not generic skills or introductory levels of learning."

Instead of simply arguing against existing proposals for higher education accountability, AAC&U's statement offers an alternative approach. It challenges each college and university to assess and publicize its own students' levels of achievement of a small set of key learning outcomes that all college graduates should achieve, regardless of their field of study or choice of institution.

The statement proposes that all colleges and universities should be able to affirm that their graduates have achieved:

• strong analytical, communication, and quantitative skills;
• well-developed knowledge of the natural, social, and cultural worlds;
• intercultural knowledge and collaborative problem-solving skills;
• a sense of civic and social responsibility; and
• integrative thinking skills and the ability to transfer skills and knowledge from one setting to another.

Our Students' Best Work suggests that all college students should complete a capstone or culminating experience in their major field of study through which they can demonstrate their cumulative accomplishment of the key learning outcomes of a college degree. According to the National Survey of Student Engagement, 58 percent of college students already do such culminating assignments.

To help students prepare for these assignments, all college students will also need:

• A clear orientation to their college's expectations for important learning outcomes;
• A plan of study constructed with an informed advisor that connects outcomes to students' choices of courses and major fields of study; and
• Milestone assessments of their progress in both general education and their major.

"Every college student deserves the benefits that a challenging liberal education provides," said AAC&U president Carol Geary Schneider. "As our work in the Greater Expectations initiative demonstrates, a strong consensus has now emerged among education, business, and societal leaders that today's workplace and the challenges of our diverse democracy require college graduates with strong communication, intercultural, and analytic skills. A robust framework for accountability will enable colleges and universities to demonstrate publicly their commitment to fulfilling this promise for today's students."

The release of this statement is part of AAC&U's ongoing effort to better prepare students for an era of greater expectations and to assist campuses to ensure that all students--including those traditionally underserved by higher education--benefit from a strong liberal education.

To see a complete copy of the AAC&U statement, Our Students' Best Work: A Framework for Accountability Worth of Our Mission, visit www.aacu.org/publications/index.cfm.

AAC&U is the leading national association concerned with the quality, vitality, and public standing of undergraduate liberal education. Its members are committed to extending the advantages of a liberal education to all students, regardless of academic specialization or intended career. Founded in 1915, AAC&U now comprises more than 1,150 accredited public and private colleges and universities of every type and size.

AAC&U functions as a catalyst and facilitator, forging links among presidents, administrators, and faculty members who are engaged in institutional and curricular planning. Its mission is to reinforce the collective commitment to liberal education at both the national and local levels and to help individual institutions keep the quality of student learning at the core of their work as they evolve to meet new economic and social challenges.

Information about AAC&U membership, programs, and publications can be found on the AAC&U Web site.