Developed by the RAND Corporation and the Council for Aid to Education (CAE) and launched in the fall of 2000, the CLA is a standardized testing initiative that allows for a direct measure of student learning by combining two types of testing components, 1) a set of real-world performance tasks, and 2) a set of analytic writing prompts. These are used to measure student learning in the areas of critical thinking, analytic reasoning, and written communication.

What is a Rubric?

A rubric is an assessment tool, often shaped like a matrix, what describes levels of achievement in a specific area of performance, understanding, or behavior.

A scoring rubric has three dimensions:

Alignment of Outcomes, Assessment, and Assignments

How do we know our students are learning? Planning begins with the alignment and relationships between Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs), Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs), assessment and assignments, experiences, and activities.

Why do we need curricular mapping?

A curriculum map is a chart that illustrates the connections between Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs) and Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs). As illustrated below, a Curriculum Map is an example of planning that begins with the end in mind. The Curriculum Map displayed below also indicates the level learning outcomes are taught in courses and, as a result, also serves to identify any redundancies and/or gaps in outcome coverage.

Why Learning Outcomes?

In a January 09, 2018 blogpost, Assessment author and consultant Dr. Linda Suskie discusses the value of articulating learning outcomes:

Clearly defined learning outcomes can:

The Implementation Plan

As described in the section, "Report and Use Results" each program is asked to develop an seven-year implementation plan as part of the Academic Program Review process. This plan provides an ongoing map for assessing components of the program over the next APR cycle and becomes the foundation for the next six years of annual reporting.