Assessing Student Learning: A Common Sense Guide

by Linda Suskie

Assessing Student Learning is a standard reference for college faculty and administrators, and the third edition of this highly regarded book continues to offer comprehensive, practical, plainspoken guidance. The third edition adds a stronger emphasis on making assessment useful; greater attention to building a culture in which assessment is used to inform important decisions; an enhanced focus on the many settings of assessment, especially general education and co-curricula; a new emphasis on synthesizing evidence of student learning into an overall picture of an integrated learning experience; new chapters on curriculum design and assessing the hard-to-assess; more thorough information on organizing assessment processes; new frameworks for rubric design and setting standards and targets; and many new resources. Faculty, administrators, new and experienced assessment practitioners, and students in graduate courses on higher education assessment will all find this a valuable addition to their bookshelves.

Genres: Education, Nonfiction, Teaching, Grad School, Research, Professional Development

416 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2004

Reviews

[Jenny (Reading Envy) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good overview of current practices for assessing student learning, one of the few books that focuses on higher education and remains practical in nature. I found the analyzing and communicating chapters the most useful, because I had already chosen a tool and completed the assessment part of a project.

[CTEP]

For the July book club, I chose to read “Assessing Student Learning: a common sense guide” by Linda Suskie. This book was recommended to me by a faculty member at Metro. It is a great introductory book for anyone trying to understand assessment in teaching adults. The book is broken into 4 sections – understanding assessment, planning for assessment, a toolbox, and using assessment results. Linda Suskie explains the difference parts of assessing learning, the importance of it, how it differs from evaluation, and gives example of using assessment both in and out of the classroom. She writes that planning for an assessment is even more important than the assessment itself and that planning for assessment can help instructors in a variety of ways, including helping them plan their curriculum and classroom layout. The toolbox includes a lot of different resources like examples of rubrics and holistic scoring guides, effective learning prompts, reflection questions for instructors, and assessment checklists. The last section touches on sharing assessment results with external and internal audiences, continuing assessment projects, and how to understand different types of assessment results.

I read this book because I was interested in exploring different assessment options for my learners. I have been using the Northstar tests as a pre- and post- test but felt like the usage of these tests lacked intentionality for both my open labs and individual appointments. I’m not sure if learners really understand why I am having them take the tests or how we are going to use them. I have also had learners who question why certain skills are or are not on the tests. I have been experimenting with different types of assessments like giving students a list of skills for a particular program and asking them to tell me which ones, if any, they are familiar with. I wanted to read more about how to assess student learning, the types of assessments that are out there, and how to be more intentional about assessing learning both before and after working with someone. Although I probably will not get a chance to use any of the assessment strategies I read about as a CTEP, I am going to include some thoughts in the hand-off document for Pierre because I think there are a couple resources, particularly in the toolbox section of the book, that he might find helpful or possibly even want to implement if he also feels like the Northstar test is not working for every learner.

I think any CTEP who feels like Northstar leaves something to be desired or who develops their own curriculum should read this book. If they are developing curriculum for the Northstar, it also talks about planning for assessment and how to ensure that you are asking the right questions and teaching the right material. It also talks about how to use assessment results to inform future instruction so I think that could be really helpful for anyone who is looking to analyze their site’s northstar results and possibly make changes to how they teach.

[Layne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written, well researched. Full of useful information for university-level instructors.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read most of this for class, but did not finish - still giving myself credit. A quick and practical guide to assessment.

[Delores · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this for work as part of an assessment workshop. It is a fairly easy read and provides the basics of assessing student learning. What I liked was that it wasn't too "textbooky" but it could be because I have an interest in the topic. Great starting point for those new to the world of assessment.

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent resource. I've read and re-read the first edition many times and I have enjoyed the updates to this second edition. I'd say this is essential to have on anyone's desk who is engaged in assessment of student learning. It will save you from trying to reinvent the wheel over and over!

[Teniell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in assessment. Though the book is focused on classroom learning assessment, its suggestions are applicable to student affairs work as well.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was very helpful with my class project. While not all encompassing it helps get the brain jogging as to what needs to go into an assessment program.