Senior testing included in new national accreditation measures

By Sarah Rutledge     3/13/08 7:00pm

Seniors who dreamed that their last semester of college would be filled with constant parties, easy classes and the occasional contemplation of their future may have to adjust that fantasy this year due to accreditation assessments, which began last week. Though Rice was reaffirmed for accreditation in 2006 - all colleges and universities are evaluated every ten years for the title - due to new measures by the federal government, universities across the country are undergoing an examination process to test what seniors have learned in their time at college.

Associate Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness John Cornwell said accreditation of a college or university indicates a government seal of approval on that institution. If a school is not accredited, it cannot receive government funds in the form of loans or grants, and a student's degree will not be recognized by other universities.

The accrediting bodies are grouped by region. Rice is part of the Southern Association, which consists of about 800 institutions in the southwest part of the United States. Each region's accreditation agency acts as a self-policing entity, as it is composed of representatives from all the schools in the region.

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In the past, accreditation was a two-step process. Teams of six to seven representatives from other universities in the accreditation agency reviewed a school to make sure it meets certain principles, which include a firm mission statement, advertisement of standard and admission practices and effectiveness of institutional policies. An on-site committee composed of six people visited the university to ask follow-up questions before the university can be accredited. Accreditation methods are identical regardless of whether an institution is public or private.

Cornwell said stricter measures from the federal government to track university spending have resulted in the need for college assessments. The assessments will impact students at universities nationwide. Accredidation agencies will continue to evaluate universities this way but starting this year, a few exiting seniors will participate in these assessments.

The students, who are randomly selected, are asked to take a total of about four-and-a-half hours of tests in two sessions, Cornwell said. Testing is not mandatory and will not affect students' grades, but they will receive $150 for participating. Cornwell said he ideally would like 100 seniors taking each of the four tests, so assignment to the tests will be random, and students will end up taking more than one. Since some tests are longer than others, students could take two or three exams, depending on their total test time. However, students will not take all four. The CLA, a take-home exam, is composed of two 90-minute sections which provide students with scenarios to judge their critical decision-making skills. Selected students will just take one section of the CLA. If a student is selected to take the CLA writing section, his or her results will be compared to his or her freshman composition exam score. Other tests include an iSkills exam, a 45-minute online test which assesses students' knowledge of information technology, and the paper-and-pencil multiple choice California Critical Thinking test.

Cornwell said the idea for testing seniors has been around for a year. Rice also had to declare its goals for undergraduate education last year due to increased pressure from the federal government, Cornwell said.

"Most schools have a clear statement of what that has to achieve," Cornwell said. "Rice has stayed away from that because the school believes students can pick [their courses] on their own because they're smart. The federal government says we need a stronger statement and actual goals. Testing goes back to those core elements."

Cornwell said since schools differ in their aims of what to teach, it would be impractical to institute a uniform test for all graduating seniors nationwide. He said though some tests, like the CLA, may be used by several schools, the accrediting agencies will not use the scores to compare schools across the nation, since the point of the tests is to evaluate whether seniors are learning what they should in their time at college.

"This is not to go out and say which [schools] are better," Cornwell said. "The question is whether we reach the level of achievement that a Rice graduate should get."

Cornwell said this new accreditation process comes straight off the heels of the administration of President George W. Bush which is attempting to see how schools -- especially those with large endowments -- are spending their money. He said the administration wants to see students significantly perform better over time, since they view this as a reassurance that students are learning enough.

"[The government] views universities like healthcare in terms of the money being spent," Cornwell said. "How do they know they're getting their money's worth? They pay for grants, loans, buildings and need some sort of assurance that you're achieving what you should be achieving. Higher education has been one industry where we talk about our inputs more than our outputs. What kind of students are being produced by the school?"

Cornwell said he wants to attain as accurate a sample as possible so he is aiming to get 100 seniors to take each exam. During spring break, Cornwell has helped selected seniors complete 55 tests. So far, he has scheduled 108 people for testing. He plans to finish testing in April.

He said the assessments will not be open to seniors who were not randomly selected for the tests.

"The reason for that is I could see students who want to make the money taking the test for that reason," Cornwell said. "I could end up with a group of students [whose data] did not look like the entire population . that really has to do with ensuring that the sample is representative."

The faculty committee on assessment will review students' test scores after the data has been collected, at which point they will study the results and determine if the tests adequately measure students' critical thinking skills, Cornwell said. Rice will send the test data to the accreditation agency in September to be compared with the data of other schools across the country.

"We know we're good, but that's not enough anymore," Cornwell said. "We want to document that and make improvements and show to the outside world the quality of our students rather than [saying], 'Look at their SAT scores! Look at their GREs!'"

In the future, Rice may look at developing its own test based on undergraduate research, since research plays a large role in many students' lives, Cornwell said. He said Rice may soon begin testing freshmen with more exams as early as this fall, but this will involve faculty and student discussion. He said this will encourage Rice to make sure its seniors are where they should be and will bring attention to any department that needs improvement.

"It will benefit them, give them feedback and strengthen the school's programs," Cornwell said. "It is really important that we conduct assessment correctly, because then the results will be used in a positive way."

Martel College senior Jeffrey Middleton said he was not selected for the assessment, but he has his doubts as to how well seniors will perform on them.

"I think there's a good chance they'll have trouble getting a lot of seniors to take it seriously," Middleton said. "I know a lot of people would resent having to take an extra test. I guess we can hope Rice students aren't stupid enough to make their university look bad. Seniors also have more time than other people for the exams, so they are probably looking back on their time at Rice now and hopefully enjoyed it and want to make the school look good."

Martel senior Patrick Neary, who was selected to take the CLA last weekend, said the test was equivalent to the GRE writing section. He said he was happy to participate in the assessment but had heard complaints from other selected seniors about having to take more tests and write more essays.

"Most people I've heard are fairly willing to take the tests because they're getting paid," Neary said. "If you were to remove that aspect, then they'd be much less willing to do it, and the university would have a harder time getting enough people to take the tests.

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