2011

Across higher education, increasing expectations of accountability have called on practitioners to demonstrate the effectiveness and impact of their work. “Assessment in higher education primarily responds to two forces: external demands for accountability and internal commitments to improvement” (Keeling, Wall, Underhile, & Dungy, 2008, p. 1). Through the evaluation of programs and the assessment of student learning and development outcomes, practitioners can begin to respond to expectations, but more importantly, they can determine whether and to what extent programs achieve their goals and whether students learn and develop in intended ways.