Standardized testing of college students won't work

UW researchers who noticed changes in that young man and many other students like him have produced a comprehensive study of UW students, the first longitudinal assessment of learning among a large group of American college students.

"Inside the Undergraduate Experience" appears as a federal commission proposes standardized testing of college students similar to that required by No Child Left Behind.

Published in March, the book is the result of the UW Study of Undergraduate Learning (UW SOUL). It says learning is mediated by academic disciplines, particularly the major the student chooses. UW Office of Educational Assessment researchers Catharine Hoffman Beyer, Gerald M. Gillmore and Andrew T. Fisher say meaningful assessment of undergraduate learning must be conducted at the departmental level, rather than centralized.

The researchers followed 304 students for up to four years at the UW, three or more times each year sending students open-ended e-mail questions and surveys. They also interviewed half the students each year, conducted focus groups, and collected portfolios of student work. They wanted to know what and how students had learned.

"Inside the Undergraduate Experience" blends quantitative and qualitative analysis with case studies, including stories told primarily in the students' own voices. Researchers measured critical thinking, writing and quantitative skills, personal growth, diversity awareness and knowledge of information technology.

Results of the study show that writing, critical thinking and quantitative reasoning are not generic skills and that even among freshmen, such skills are mediated by the disciplines. Thus Nolan's report on monkeys in Indonesia will be different in many ways from a chemistry lab report or an English essay. What counts as good thinking, writing, quantitative reasoning, and information literacy practice in college is closely aligned with the professional practices in those fields. -Source: http://uwnews.washington.edu