Handbook on Measurement, Assessment, and Evaluation in Higher Education

Increased demands for colleges and universities to engage in outcomes assessment for accountability purposes have accelerated the need to bridge the gap between higher education practice and the fields of measurement, assessment, and evaluation. The "Handbook on Measurement, Assessment, and Evaluation in Higher Education" provides higher education administrators, student affairs personnel, institutional researchers who generate and analyze data, and faculty with an integrated handbook of theory, method, and application. This valuable resource brings together applied terminology, analytical perspectives, and methodological advances from the fields of measurement, assessment, and evaluation to facilitate informed decision-making in higher education. Bridging the gap between practice in higher education with advances in measurement, assessment, and evaluation, this book enables educational decision-makers to engage in more sound professional judgment. This handbook provides higher education administrators with both high-level and detailed views into contemporary theories and practices, supplemented with guidance on how to apply them for the benefit of students and institutions. This book is divided into six sections. This book begins with a foreword by Edward J. Yaw. "Improving Institutional Decision-Making Through Educational Measurement, Assessment, and Evaluation," a preface by Charles Secolsky and D. Brian Denison, is included. Section 1, Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, begins with an introduction to section 1 by Charles Secolsky and D. Brian Denison and contains the following: (1) Assessing the Quality of a University--Particularly its Teaching (Robert E. Stake, Gloria Contreras, and Isabel Arbesu); (2) Classroom-Level Assessment: Aligning Pedagogical Practices to Enhance Student Learning (Kathryne Drezek McConnell and Peter E. Doolittle); (3) Student Learning Outcomes Assessment at the Program and Institutional Levels (Thomas Judd and Bruce Keith); (4) The Bottom Line: Will Faculty USE Assessment Findings? (Trudy W. Banta and Gary R. Pike); (5) The Perennial Challenges of Accountability (James C. Palmer); (6) Using National, State, and Local Data for Administrative Decision-Making (Sathasivam "Kris" Krishnan, Chengbo Yin, William Mahler, Albertha Lawson, Michael Harris, and Karen Ruedinger); (7) Empowerment Evaluation and Accreditation Case Examples: California Institute of Integral Studies and Stanford University (David Fetterman); and (8) Benchmarking in Higher Education (Jeffrey Seybert, Ellen Weed, and Trudy Bers). Section 2, Theories and Technical Aspects of Educational Measurement, begins with an introduction to section 2 by Charles Secolsky and D. Brian Denison and contains the following: (9) Classical Test Theory and Higher Education: Five Questions (Elizabeth Schaughency, Jeffrey Smith, Jacques van der Meer, and David Berg); (10) Generalizability Theory in Assessment Contexts (Noreen M. Webb, Richard Shavelson, and Jeffrey Steedle); (11) Item Response Theory in Measurement, Assessment, And Evaluation for Higher Education (Steven J. Osterlind and Ze Wang); (12) Scaling, Norming, and Equating (Michael J. Kolen and Amy B. Hendrickson); (13) Reliability (Bruce Thompson and Tammi Vacha-Haase); (14) The Validation of Tests in Higher Education (Kurt Geisinger, Leslie H. Shaw, and Carina McCormick); (15) Statistical Modeling in Measurement, Assessment, and Evaluation for Higher Education (Steven J. Osterlind and Ze Wang); and (16) Issues in the Analysis of Change (D. Betsy McCoach, Karen Rambo, and Megan Welsh). Section 3, Test Construction and Development, begins with an introduction to section 3 by Louise Yarnall and contains the following: (17) Building Content and Statistical Test Specifications (Tawnya Knupp and Deborah Harris); (18) Evidence-Centered Design in Assessment Development (Geneva Haertel, Ellen Wentland, Louise Yarnall, and Robert J. Mislevy); (19) The Assessment of 21st-Century Skills in Community College Career and Technician Education Programs (Louise Yarnall and Jane Ostrander); (20) Item Analysis Procedures for Classroom Assessments in Higher Education (Jerome C. Clauser and Ronald K. Hambleton); (21) Using Content Specialists for Detecting Item and Test Unfairness (Sydell Carlton); and (22) Computer-Based Testing in Higher Education (Robert Dolan and Kelly Burling). Section 4, Testing and Assessment for Decision-Making, begins with an introduction to section 4 by Charles Secolsky and D. Brian Denison and contains the following: (23) Setting and Validating Cut Scores for Tests (Mary J. Pitoniak and Deanna L. Morgan); (24) College Placement Testing of Entering Students (Deanna L. Morgan); (25) Admissions Testing in Higher Education (Rebecca Zwick); (26) Postsecondary Writing Assessment (Peggy O'Neill and Sandra Murphy); (27) Authentic Assessment Validation: A Heuristic Rubrics Cube (Jion Liou Yen and Kevin Hynes); and (28) Cognitive Diagnostic Method: Rule Space, Q-Matrix Theory and Applications (Kikumi Tatsuoka, Anthony E. Kelly, Curtis Tatsuoka, and Michael Dean). Section 5, Approaches to Evaluation in Higher Education, begins with an introduction to section 5 by Thomas E. Grayson and contains the following: (29) Program Evaluation in Higher Education (Thomas E. Grayson); (30) Qualitative Evaluation (Christopher Pondish); (31) Naturalistic Evaluation (David A. Erlandson); (32) Responsive Evaluation (Kelly Godfrey and Doreen B. Finkelstein); (33) Case Studies and Validity (Edith Cisneros-Cohernour); (34) Mixed Methods Specialists in Action: Linking Mixed Methods Research to Learning and Classroom Assessment (Delwyn Harnisch, John Creswell, and Timothy Guetterman); and (35) Survey Use in Academic Contexts: Considerations and Guidelines (Ellen Wentland). Section 6, Issues in Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, begins with an introduction to section 6 by April L. Zenisky and contains the following: (36) Using Data to Find Common Ground Between Secondary and Postsecondary Accommodations for Students with Disabilities (Manju Banerjee and Martha L. Thurlow); (37) Testing and Evaluation of English-Language Learners in Higher Education (Young Yee Kim, James Hart, Jamal Abedi, and Alan Vanneman); (38) Evaluation of Teacher Quality (Stephanie L. Knight); (39) Reporting Assessment Results in Higher Education (April L. Zenisky and Jerold S. Laguilles); (40) Presenting Learning Outcomes Assessment Results to Foster Use (Staci J. Provezis and Natasha A. Jankowski); (41) Revisiting Reliability and Validity in Higher Education Research and Program Evaluation (Margaret D. LeCompte and Dorothy Aguilera-Black Bear); and (42) Ethical Assessment and Institutional Advancement: Connecting Good Practice with the Need to Move Campuses Forward (Ashley Finley). This book ends with concluding remarks from Charles Secolsky and D. Brian Denison.