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Assessment Essentials: Planning, Implementing and Improving Assessment in Higher Education

~ Catherine A. Palomba, Trudy W. Banta

About the Book:

Assessment Essentials outlines the assessment process from the first to the last step and is filled with examples to show how assessment is accomplished on today's academic campuses.  It is especially useful for faculty members and others who may be new to the assessment process.  In clear, accessible language, Palomba and Banta describe effective assessment programs and offer a thorough review of the most up-to-date practices in the field.  This comprehensive resource shows how to:

  • Develop plans and goals that are right for the needs of an individual campus
  • Encourage involvement and support from students, faculty, alumni, and employees
  • Select useful methods and approaches
  • Use the most advantageous performance measures
  • Develop tests and classroom assignments
  • Choose appropriate surveys and focus groups
  • Accurately assess general education, campus environments, and student experiences
  • Effectively analyze, report, and use the assessment results

About the Authors:

Catherine A. Palomba is Director, Offices of Academic Assessment and Institutional Research, Ball State University.  She is a 1998 recipient of the Best Practice in Assessing Learning Outcomes award from the American Productivity and Quality Center. 

Trudy W. Banta is Professor of Higher Education and Vice Chancellor for Planning and Institutional Improvement at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.  She is coauthor of Assessment in Practice and Making a Difference, and founding editor of Assessment Update (a Jossey-Bass bimonthly newsletter).

Contents:

  1. The Essentials of Successful Assessment
  2. Developing Definitions, Goals, and Plans
  3. Encouraging Involvement in Assessment
  4. Selecting Methods and Approaches
  5. Using Performance Measures and portfolios for Assessment
  6. Using Tests, Classroom Assignments, and Classroom Assessment
  7. Listening to Students´ Voices
  8. Relating Assessment to the World of Work
  9. Assessing general Education
  10. Assessing Campus Environments and Student Experiences
  11. Reporting and Using Assessment Results
  12. A Matter of Choices 

Ordering Information:

Assessment Essentials:
Planning, Implementing, and Improving Assessment in Higher Education
By Catherine A. Palomba, Trudy W. Banta
ISBN: 0-7879-4180-8W01
432 pages
May, 1999
URL: www.josseybass.com