Special Section – Looking Back, Looking Forward A Is for Assessment: The Other Scarlet Letter

This is a personalized review of programs designed to assess student learning outcomes (SLOs) in higher education. In the last 30þ years, there have been few changes in the basic principles and premises. We assess SLOs for the purpose of improving teaching and learning. Although content area knowledge is important, other goals such as enhancing critical thinking skills, understanding diversity of all types, acting ethically, and communicating in appropriate ways for different audiences are equally important. Rapid increases in the use of technology have created a renewed emphasis on understanding how students learn best and thus the assessment of SLOs has moved to the center of contemporary educational debate. In addition, the goal of creating psychologically literate citizens is propelling a broad range of outcome measures. Keywords assessment, student learning outcomes, value-added assessments Which of the following images comes to mind when you hear the term assessment? A. Bubble-in scantron forms that are damp and smeary from sweat and erasures. B. Tall stacks of essay questions waiting for you to grade, and grade, and grade. C. Anxious students writing furiously before ‘‘time is up.’’ D. The specter of a bad grade. E. All of the above except C. F. Either two of the above or none of the above. G. Just shoot me now and get this over with. No one should be surprised to learn that faculty (in general) have not enthusiastically embraced the opportunity to see if their students measure up to those at other universities or to the expectations of their professors. The assessment of student outcomes is one of the most contentious topics in higher edu-cation. In this article, I look back at my involvement in student outcomes assessment that spans close to 30 years, and I use my cloudy crystal ball to look forward to what I expect to be major trends in the coming decades. A Short Personal History or How I Becam