Teaching & Learning Center

A Policy Statement from the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment: From work in the field, NILOA has distilled five principles that if enacted in mission-relevant ways can spread and accelerate assessment work worthy of the promises colleges and universities make to their students, policy-makers, and the public. The five principals outlined are: (1) Develop specific, actionable learning outcomes statements; (2) Connect learning goals with actual student assignments and work; (3) Collaborate with the relevant stakeholders, beginning with the faculty; (4) Design assessment approaches that generate actionable evidence about student learning that key stakeholders can understand and use to improve student and institutional performance; and (5) Focus on "improvement," and "compliance" will take care of itself.