Assessing Academic Programs in Higher Education, by Mary J. Allen
Reviewed by Cynthia Desrochers, California State University, Northridge

When you sit in discussions about program effectiveness, do terms like formative feedback, embedded assessments, and performance measures fill the conversation? Puzzled by some of this new vocabulary, do you dare ask for clarification? 

Mary Allen, former director of the California State University System's Institute for Teaching and Learning, shares over 30 years experience as an assessment workshop leader in her self-described "little blue book," a primer for program assessment in higher education. And you have to appreciate the directness of a text that advises, "When you are checking the depth of water, don't use both legs." The book guides the reader through program assessment focused on student mastery of learning outcomes. Said another way, its purpose is program assessment for formative purposes, focusing on the quality of student learning.

Chapter one introduces higher education professionals to the purpose of program assessment, distinguishes between grading and assessment, and establishes a strong case as to why faculty should consider doing assessment at all:  to find out if students are mastering the learning objectives that we as faculty truly value. Allen suggests that our intellectual curiosity to find out how our teaching impacts student learning is our intrinsic reward for doing program assessment. She convincingly argues that program assessment is about student learning, not faculty evaluation, and that it is a critical component of learning-centered instruction in higher education.

The book is organized around six basic steps that underlie student learning, where faculty work together to:  1) develop student-learning objectives, 2) check alignment between curriculum and objectives, 3) develop assessment plans, 4) collect assessment data, 5) use assessment data to improve programs  (called "closing the loop"), and 6) routinely examine and correct the assessment process itself.

Useful when read cover-to-cover as a crash course for the assessment novice, each section also can provide busy administrators and faculty alike with a quick reference source for daily on-the-job clarification and examples. Topics include the following:  matrixes to check curriculum alignment and cohesiveness; student-learning outcomes designed using Bloom's Taxonomy to assure the appropriate depth of processing; test construction using various formats (e.g., multiple choice, fill-in, and essay); an "alphabet soup" section on regional accrediting organizations (e.g., WASC, NEASC, and MSA) with Web sites included; ethical considerations in assessment; authentic assessments; embedded assessments; direct assessments (e.g., tests, assignments, and portfolios); and indirect assessments (e.g., surveys, interviews, and focus groups), to name a few. For these practices, Allen fairly assesses both their potential strengths and limitations. And for review, an eight-page glossary at the end of the book summarizes the key assessment terms most often used today in our colleges and universities.

Written in easily comprehensible language, the author shares many practical examples and models from colleges and universities nationwide to give the reader a starting point from which to craft his or her own assessment tools. These include models of well-written institutional goals, program learning objectives with activity and assessment, embedded assessments, and scoring rubrics.

Allen's writing style will hook you to read further, even if you and your colleagues aren't the types that get particularly excited by noting the differences between validity and reliability measures. For example, early on she cautions readers to avoid collecting assessment data that goes unused, noting that, as they say in the Midwest, "You can't fatten a pig by weighing it."

At the point when you are ready to pull together a campus change team to move your institution towards fruitful program assessment, your first investment might be to place copies of this little blue book in the hands of all participants a few weeks prior to that start-up meeting. Be sure to attach to each cover a Post-it note, which says:  "Must read:  the foundation of our discussions begin here."