Presidential leadership is critical to initiating, guiding, and championing robust initiatives to assess learning outcomes, according to two presidents who spoke at the Presidents Institute and are involved in the development of integrated approaches to outcomes assessment on their campuses. University of Charleston (WV) President Edwin H. Welch and Wheaton College (MA) President Ronald A. Crutcher acknowledged that colleges and universities are under increasing pressure, thanks to the visibility of the Spellings Commission’s report, to demonstrate academic success. The panelists argued that there is value in private colleges assessing learning outcomes, as a means to improve student learning and make the case for the quality of the institution. Their institutions are at different stages in developing an integrated campus approach to outcomes assessment, and each is taking a slightly different path to achieving this objective.

Seeking to revitalize the institution and claim a distinctive niche in the higher education landscape, Welch initiated just over a decade ago a university-wide planning effort. Planning changed the institution’s mission and focus from faculty teaching to student learning. Faculty participation in this self-study and planning effort was critical to their unanimous support two years after the shift in focus. Now, ten years later, the university is noted for its “culture of assessment” and faculty members play a central role in the implementation and revision of assessment activities. In 2005–2006, the University of Charleston had the highest “value-added” score among the more than 100 colleges and universities that administered the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA). The CLA examines competencies central to general education, such as critical thinking, analytic reasoning, problem solving, and written communication. The University of Charleston provides one example of how institutional leadership, support from faculty colleagues, and the influence of campus culture worked together to create an atmosphere where faculty support for the assessment of student learning is the norm.

Wheaton College has recently started a similar process of reexamining its educational goals and setting strategic priorities. Crutcher described the objectives, based in part on essential learning outcomes identified by business leaders and recent college graduates. To measure outcomes, Wheaton is working with Harvard professor Richard Light to develop a set of dashboard indicators. These measures include the number of academic courses incorporating experiential learning, the proportion of students engaged in community service and social action, and the diversity of students, faculty, and staff. Monitoring these indicators will help the college assess its efforts to provide a transformative liberal arts education.

Several common themes emerged from the presentation that should be useful to other CIC colleges and universities seeking to develop robust outcomes assessment initiatives. Beyond presidential leadership, which is critical to initiating and implementing these efforts, Crutcher and Welch said faculty involvement was central in defining outcomes and their measures. Assessment efforts were purposefully linked to the institutions’ mission statements. And finally, both presidents viewed the effort to assess student learning outcomes as beneficial to the institution, both in fostering improved academic success and in demonstrating the institution’s educational quality.