Communication is Key: Unpacking “Use of Assessment Results to Improve Student Learning”

Kristen L. Smith, Megan Rodgers Good, Elizabeth Hawk Sanchez, and Keston H. Fulcher   |    Volume Ten  |   

Although higher education institutions often engage in assessment practices, use of assessment results to improve student learning is rare (Blaich & Wise, 2011). We surmised that this rarity could be partially explained by unclear communication regarding what use of results means. The current study qualitatively investigated how assessment professionals define use of assessment results to improve student learning in assessment literature, assessment rubrics, and regional accreditation standards. We found that most definitions were vague and lacked detailed examples. This ambiguity may help explain why using results to make data-supported curricular or pedagogical changes and then re-assessing students to determine the effect of those changes is so uncommon in higher education. Based on our findings, we clarify what it means to close the loop in an effort to facilitate greater use of results to evidence improved student learning.

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