Press Release

Contact: Debra Humphreys
Vice President for Communications and Public Affairs
202-387-3760 ext. 422
Humphreys@aacu.org

New National Initiative Engages College Faculty in Developing Ways to Assess Essential College Outcomes

Association of American Colleges and Universities to Provide Faculty Development Program for Teagle Foundation Consortium

Washington, DC—January 5, 2005—The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) recently announced a new project, "Engaging Faculty with the Assessment of Liberal Education Outcomes." With support from The Teagle Foundation, AAC&U will provide a faculty development program to a consortium of colleges and universities working to improve the assessment of key learning outcomes developed through an engaged liberal education.

The project builds on the recommendations made by AAC&U's board of directors in its recently released statement, Our Students' Best Work: A Framework for Accountability Worthy of Our Mission. In that statement, the board called for colleges and universities to develop 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.

"AAC&U is grateful for support from The Teagle Foundation as we work to advance approaches to liberal education that prepare students for today's challenges. We welcome the opportunity to support a set of institutions among those forging contemporary ways to provide all students a powerful liberal education for twenty-first-century life and work," said Elisabeth Zinser, AAC&U board chair and president of Southern Oregon University. "Working together, we are confident that this project will result in a set of powerful frameworks, tools, and lessons for assessing the very kinds of outcomes that will ensure our students' success."

This project is led by Andrea Leskes, vice president for education and quality initiatives and director of a signature AAC&U initiative, Greater Expectations: The Commitment to Quality as a Nation Goes to College. "Engaging Faculty" is linked to a new Teagle Foundation program that encourages invited colleges and universities to form consortia committed to developing models of value-added and direct assessment of student learning. The Association will offer these groups assistance with planning, implementation, and capacity building as it provides a national context for their campus-based work. The project will also foster faculty responsibility for the totality of undergraduate education in ways that allow for transparent assessment of important learning outcomes.

This grant to AAC&U is part of a larger effort of The Teagle Foundation--a New York-based philanthropic foundation--to encourage systematic assessment of the outcomes of a liberal education. "I am delighted that we can work with such an excellent organization as AAC&U in this area of emerging significance," said W. Robert Connor, president of The Teagle Foundation. "Governing boards, accrediting agencies, and the general public are demanding more systematic assessment of the outcomes of education at every level. It is important that faculty and administrators in higher education be proactive rather than waiting for inappropriate measures to be imposed upon them."

Colleges involved in the initiative will also be able to contribute to AAC&U's new campaign for liberal education, to be launched at its 2005 Annual Meeting, "Liberal Education and the New Academy," scheduled for late January.

For additional information on AAC&U and its many publications and initiatives, and to learn about the latest resources on assessment of college learning, see www.aacu.org. For information about The Teagle Foundation, see www.teaglefoundation.org.

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. Since its founding in 1915, AAC&U's membership has grown to more than 1000 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 at www.aacu.org.

The Teagle Foundation was established in 1944 by Walter C. Teagle (1878-1962), longtime president and later chairman of the board of Standard Oil Company (New Jersey), now Exxon Mobil Corporation. Higher education has been a major interest of the Foundation since its establishment. In recent years, the Foundation has made grants to approximately three hundred private colleges throughout the United States.