Evidence of Learning

Evidence of Learning: Applying the Collegiate Learning Assessment to Improve Teaching and Learning in the Liberal Arts College Experience, is CIC’s interim report on the work of the CIC Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA) Consortium, which piloted a way to measure institutional contributions to gains in student learning. This report describes the expedition of 12 institutions from 2004 to 2005 and 33 institutions from 2005 to 2008 in their use of CLA to advance student learning assessment. A final report on the CIC/CLA Consortium, Catalyst for Change, summarizing the experiences of 47 institutions from 2008 to 2011 was published in November, 2011.

Funders: Teagle Foundation and Carnegie Corporation of New York

 

 Key Findings

 
​The CLA is developed by the Council for Aid to Education (CAE) and was officially launched in 2004. It is one of the first testing instruments to measure student learning directly by capturing the contribution of the institution to students’ cognitive development. The test provides a standardized measure of higher order skills and competencies that are often aligned with the general education goals of the undergraduate curriculum: critical thinking, analytic reasoning, problem solving, and written communication. The CIC/CLA consortium institutions are among the first in the nation to pilot this tool. This report describes important lessons that merged from the consortial experience as the member institutions charted into this new territory. The major topics in the report include:
  • The importance of campus leadership
  • The variety of CLA experiences
  • The challenge of using the CLA
  • Future directions

Download a PDF of the full report
 

 Contact Information

 
​For questions about Catalyst for Change, please contact CIC Director of Research Projects Wei Song at wsong@cic.nche.edu or (202) 466-7230.