An Empirically Derived Faculty Model of Assessment Culture in Higher Education

• In Event: 32.082 - Roundtable Session 11
  In Roundtable Session: 32.082-15 - Through the Technological Lens of Assessment

Abstract

Assessment has emerged as a fundamental expectation of modern higher education and scholars and practitioners have advocated for the development of institutional cultures of assessment. Despite being widely advocated, literature and empirical examinations of assessment culture have remained untested. The present study calls upon 852 faculty responses from the spring 2015 administration of the Faculty Survey of Assessment Culture. Using Principal Component Analysis, the researchers developed a model for theorizing about higher education faculty perceptions on assessment culture consisting of the following six factors: (a) Use of Data for Student Learning, (b) Distrust of Assessment, (c) Structural Support for Assessment, (d) Fear Factors, (e) Sharing of Results, (f) Responsibility for Assessment. Discussion about impacts and future research are offered.

Authors

• Matthew Bryan Fuller, Sam Houston State University

• Susan Troncoso Skidmore, Sam Houston State University

• Rebecca McBride Bustamante, Sam Houston State University

• Nara M Martirosyan, Sam Houston State University