1. Learning Outcomes Assessment Development of Statewide Plan in Massachusetts & Proposal for Multi-State Collaborative SHEEO Higher Education Policy Conference | August 8–10, 2012 State Agency Workshop Session Patricia Crosson, Senior Advisor for Academic Policy

2. Within Massachusetts

3.  Vision Project commitment to measurable outcomes and public reporting.  Fulfill campus and Department of Higher Education accountability obligations to current and potential students, taxpayers and other stakeholders.  Want information about quality of student learning as part of DHE oversight responsibility.  Want an alternative to a single standardized test that produces compliance behavior. Want a statewide plan that supports campus formative assessment and statewide accountability. Why a Statewide Plan?

4. Within Massachusetts  Three-year effort to develop a collaboration involving 22 campuses and DHE: ▪ Working Group on Student Learning Outcomes and Assessment ▪ AMCOA (Advancing a Massachusetts Culture of Assessment)* ▪ Leap State Status and Massachusetts LEAP State Initiative  Current collaborative structure for refinement and review of models and metrics for statewide plan: ▪ Task Force for Statewide Assessment of Student Learning ▪ Massachusetts Team ▪ State Partner Team ▪ Continuation of AMCOA Project and AMCOA Team* What Has Been Accomplished So Far? * AMCOA work supported by two generous grants from the Davis Educational Foundation

5. Within Massachusetts  LEAP Essential Learning Outcomes and VALUE Rubrics as common framework. Begin with Critical Thinking, Written Communication and Quantitative Literacy.  Outcomes aligned with curriculum. Outcomes-related assignments embedded in course work. Assignments (portfolios ?) assessed using VALUE rubrics.  Faculty involved in all curricular and assessment aspects. Faculty development.  Results for each learning outcome:  Used formatively by campuses.  Also reported to DHE, rolled up by segment (2-year, 4-year institutions), and presented along with other measures in Vision Project Report. How Will It Work?

6. With Other States

7.  Conviction that working with other states to develop a different way to do statewide learning outcomes assessment will enable genuine change in higher education.  Vision Project makes commitment to measuring progress toward student learning outcomes in comparison with other states.  Currently, there is no way to make comparisons in absence of standardized test. Why a Multi-State Collaborative?

8. With Other States  Commitment of 22 campuses and DHE to work on state partnerships as part of LEAP State Initiative.  May 2012 meeting in Boulder with 15 potential state partners. Meeting co-sponsored by Massachusetts Department of Higher Education (through Nellie Mae Education Foundation grant), SHEEO, and Association of American Colleges and Universities. Discussed proposal for Multi-State Collaborative.  Boulder participants exploring Collaborative proposal within their respective states. Asked to respond by December 2012. What Has Been Accomplished So Far?

9. With Other States  Participating states sign compact.  Model will be developed by collaborating states.  Model will be pilot-tested in participating states. How Will It Work?

10. Questions and Discussion