The RAND Corporation’s Council for Aid to Education (CAE) this year launched a “value added assessment” initiative, a long-term study to assess the quality of undergraduate education in the United States. More than half of the 20 institutions selected to participate in the pilot program are CIC institutions.
    “The initiative’s value-added approach will measure actual student learning rather than relying solely on student self-reports or indirect indicators such as college retention rates and graduation rates. The resulting assessment system will not rank colleges and universities (like the U.S. News & World Report survey). Rather, it will provide a diagnostic tool to assist teachers and students in making improvements to courses and learning outcomes,” said CAE President Roger Benjamin, who is leading the project with Richard Hersh, then a CAE senior fellow, now president of Trinity College (CT).
    The study is notable, according to Hersh, in that it is longitudinal (following students through their entire undergraduate education and beyond); multi-institutional (including residential liberal arts colleges, community colleges, comprehensive universities, as well as on-line programs), and performance-based (measuring actual student learning rather than relying on self-reports from students).
    Institutions participating in the pilot program include: Bronx Community College (NY); Carnegie Mellon University (PA); Chapman University (CA); Earlham College (IN); Goshen College (IN); Hampshire College (MA); Heritage College (WA); Indiana University; Indiana University-Purdue University; Jackson State University (MS); Macalester College (MN); Pace University (NY); Pacific Lutheran University (WA); Seattle Pacific University (WA); Seattle University (WA); Trinity College (CT); University of Charleston (WV); University of Maine at Farmington; Wabash College (IN); and Whitworth College (WA).