1. SUNY Oneonta’s CLA Results: 2008-09
College Senate
SUNY Oneonta
October 5, 2009

2. Presenter Patty Francis Associate Provost for Institutional
Assessment & Effectiveness

3. Background Information
Oneonta’s original SCBA plan proposed to use SUNY rubrics to assess Critical Thinking in
Chairs’ proposal in Fall 2007 to replace rubrics with test such as Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA)
Concern about reliability and validity of rubrics
Concern about large number of courses/faculty that would necessarily be involved in use of rubrics
Development of formal proposal for consideration by College Senate in Spring 2008
Approval by College Senate of proposal on March 31, 2008

4. About the CLA
Not a multiple choice test – requires students to actively engage with materials presented over a computer in 60- to 90-minute session
Analyses adjust for students’ Entering Academic Ability and provide results for first-year students, graduating seniors, and “value added”
Assesses Critical Thinking and Writing
Two types of tasks
Performance
Analytic Writing
Make-an-Argument (i.e., SUNY CT outcome #2)
Break-an-Argument (i.e., SUNY CT outcome #1)

5. ADMINISTRATION DETAILS
Student Recruitment and Sampling
Used cross-sectional approach, comparing first-semester students in Fall 2008 (n=123) to graduating seniors (n=109) in Spring 2009
Senior sample included 73 native, 36 transfer students
Preparation of sampling plan for CAE assuring comparability between sample and student populations
Mean SAT scores for first-year participants = 1097 (compared to 1096 for entire class)
Mean SAT scores for seniors = 1076 (compared to 1077 for entire class)
Student Participation and Motivation
Reliance on first-year seminar classes for freshmen and academic departments for seniors
Emphasis to students on benefits to institution, programs, and themselves
Provision of individual student results to programs and to students

6. Results First-Year Students Graduating Seniors
Performed at above expected levels on Overall Score, Performance Task, Analytic Writing Task, and Make-an-Argument
Performed at expected levels on Critique-an-Argument
Performed higher than 76% of comparison institutions
Graduating Seniors
Performed at well above expected levels on Critique-an-Argument
Performed higher than 89% of comparison institutions!

7. Results (cont.) Value Added
Performed at expected levels on Overall Score, Performance Task, and Make-an-Argument
Performed at above expected levels on Analytic Writing Task and Critique-an-Argument
Performed higher than 68% of comparison institutions
Native vs. Transfer Students (Senior Sample)
Analytic Writing – 82% of native students scored at expected/above expected levels compared to 81% of transfers
Make-an-Argument – 79% of native students scored at expected/above expected levels compared to 62% of transfers
Critique-an-Argument – 72% of native students scored at expected/above expected levels compared to 81% of transfers

8. Who Were Our Peers?
190 institutions listed in CLA Final Report, ranging from very small privates (Alma College in Michigan) to large publics (Arizona State)
Two SUNY institutions (Oneonta, Buffalo State)
US News and World Report overall rankings
53 in top 50 for their regions
11 in top 10 (Truman State, Drake University)
8 in top 11-20
12 in top 21-30
9 in top 31-40

9. What’s Next? Results provided to GEAC for review and recommendations
Approval of CLA by GEAR Group for SCBA in Spring 2009, with pilot scheduled for
Most important, we need to use results
Academic departments with at least 7 or more graduating seniors who took the CLA have received their students’ results
CLA’s “CLA in the Classroom” initiative, either at workshop sites or on campus
Campus-wide discussion about critical thinking?
Other ideas?

10. SUNY Oneonta’s CLA Results: 2008-09
College Senate
SUNY Oneonta
October 5, 2009