Outcomes Assessment

My car, similar to many recent model domestic and foreign cars, has a stop/start engine capability. If I apply the brakes, the engine stops within a few seconds and once I step on the accelerator, the engine springs back to life almost seamlessly. Initially, I wondered about the reliability of the stop start technology. My painful experience with a Chevrolet Vega has conditioned me to expect that once the engine stops, good luck in getting it started again. But the experience to date, through thousands of miles of driving, has relieved my anxieties and built up my confidence. I know that start/stop works and that it is reliable.

As noted above, the start/stop process is almost seamless but you are nevertheless aware that the engine is stopping and starting. But this is a small price to pay for saving gas and being more economical. But that leads to the following key question: what is the savings involved and in a cost benefit analysis, how does the savings compare to the extra costs involved. In other words, I am looking for outcomes assessment on the car level.

When outcomes assessment first surfaced in higher education and also in K-12 education, I wondered whether these efforts were really necessary. There were many outcomes that were clearly present, so what was the necessity of a comprehensive effort in this area. There were also substantial additional costs involved in undertaking any comprehensive assessment effort. However, working with outcomes assessment over these recent years and seeing how it now leads naturally to continuous improvement has convinced me as to the wisdom of the efforts in this area. Especially the migration of assessment to the individual areas and courses in the curriculum has convinced me that on both the micro level and the macro level, education and our students are the beneficiaries.

On the K-12 level, I am equally convinced about the benefit of comprehensive outcomes assessment but I am also somewhat more concerned. I have this feeling and some supporting data to go with the feeling, that assessment has resulted in an overemphasis on testing. And too much testing too early in a student’s career replaces a love of learning with a sense of apprehension which is clearly counterproductive. We need a balance and we need assessment that is imbedded in the curriculum rather than overemphasizing examinations.

I am a lifetime subscriber to Consumer Reports and a tremendous fan of their highly systematic assessment of the worth of many products and many services. Their testing of cars and their surveys of car owners constitute a model of assessment in the moment and over time that has been unmatched for many years, and still is unmatched by any of the competition.

The C Word

I had the pleasure of attending my local high school graduation last week.  This was a class that was recognized for their social action, for their sense of purpose, and for their involvement.  A nice change in priorities from the “me” generation that we suffered through not that long ago.  Early in the ceremony, there was a speech by the class valedictorian who as you can imagine was very bright and articulate, and had a sense of humor besides.  Certainly an impressive young man with a great combination of positive attributes.

The speech by the valedictorian noted that their journey as students had progressed from the relatively simple learning early in elementary school (spell “cat”) to the more complex learning and socializing as you approached and entered middle school, to the much more complex environment in high school.  According to the valedictorian, it was upon entering high school that the students were introduced to the “dreaded C word” where the “C” stood for college. At the point this comment was made there was a laugh from many of the graduates and an unhappy look from a few.  Why the laughs, why the frowns, and why was there a sense of “dread” when it came to thinking about college?

The sense of dread didn’t really come from thinking about college. Rather it came from the realization that almost everything you did in high school would impact the chances of your getting into college, most especially perhaps the schools you most wanted to go to.  Your grades, your standardized test scores, as well as your other school related activities all made a difference.  Add to that, your economic situation, especially the ability of your family to help cover the costs of higher education which can also make a significant difference.  As do any number of life events, from the most positive to the most tragic.

For some of the students graduating, the journey from high school to college was as smooth as can be and they were positioned perfectly for this next step in life’s progression.  But for others in the audience the journey was more complex and the end result may not have been everything they desired.  Sometimes the journey leaves the current graduate in an uncomfortable place and the disappointment permeates the person and perhaps also the family. At an early age, optimism is clouded by failure and a person may end up being judged solely by his or her SATs or high school average.

Students don’t always accomplish everything they want to, especially by age 18.  But what makes our system of higher education work so well is that there are multiple opportunities provided to change schools, majors, career goals.  In many societies and in many situations in life, there isn’t the opportunity to move forward from a difficult situation.  Our system isn’t perfect but the opportunities are there.  So, after high school, the old saying really does apply, “if you don’t succeed at first, try, try again.”  And our role as educators at all levels of education is to help instill in our students the determination and ability to move forward and ultimately succeed.

The Neighborhood Effect

All of us have heard that the key bottom line in real estate is location, location, location.  The value of property, be it residential or commercial, is directly tied to the neighborhood and what positives or negatives are contained therein. How good is transportation and access; how good are the schools; how low is the crime rate; and what is the proximity to major attractions and critical needs.  Do we have a water view or a strip mall view; it all enters into the equation.

For a college or university, location presently has two major dimensions.  Why presently?  The world is clearly changing.  Students especially at the graduate level and especially also for part-time programs will, in the years ahead, no longer be attending class the way that we were educated or the way that we have taught most of our careers.  On-campus programs (once again, especially part-time and graduate programs) will gravitate to distance learning, most likely the blended variety.  On the undergraduate level, however, the campus experience remains crucial and the location factors are real assets or real concerns.

Going back to location - the first aspect of location is the neighborhood, the college or university is located in.  Is the school in an urban setting, in a suburban setting, in a rural setting? All have their advantages and all have their disadvantages and potential students and their families have feelings and concerns triggered by these settings.  We all know of schools that are located in “college towns” where the ambiance of the town directly enhances both the college experience and the attractiveness of the school or schools located there. Location as an absolute clearly makes a difference.

But there is another aspect to location and that is relative location, where you live in relation to the college or university that you are considering.  For a commuter campus, this aspect is direct and uncomplicated.  If you don’t live within a reasonable commute to the college or university involved, you will not be attending this school.  But what if the college or university nearby is significantly residential and what if you want to “go away” to school?  What happens then and what is the impact?  This is a much more complicated situation.  Potential students and their families often discount a very good college or university because it is too close.  Some students and their families feel that if the college or university is with an easy commute, it really can’t be a going away experience. And I have even encountered students and parents over the years who value going away to such a degree that distance away takes on a higher value than the quality of education provided.  Clearly somewhat flawed judgment. A good college or university educational and co-curricular experience is fundamentally different from high school.  And a university that attracts student from a majority of states and a significant number of different countries provides an environment that is very different from the neighborhood.  It really is a different world. Overall, location does matter but distance is mostly a state of mind.