California State University, Bakersfield College Portrait

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Students
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Admissions
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Majors, Graduation and Next Steps
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Student Success & Progress
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Student Learning Outcomes
Figure out what learning gains to expect in critical thinking, writing, and other important subjects at CSU Bakersfield.
Public Good

Student Learning at California State University, Bakersfield

All colleges and universities use multiple approaches to measure student learning. Many of these are specific to particular disciplines, many are coordinated with accrediting agencies, and many are based on outcomes after students have graduated.

The primary purpose of assessment at California State University, Bakersfield is improving student learning.

This is accomplished by the use of assessment information to improve program structure, course content, and pedagogy. Assessment should be primarily formative in nature. Formative assessment is often described as assessment for learning rather than assessment of learning and refers to all those activities undertaken by faculty that provide information used by faculty to modify teaching and learning activities.

Learning Assessment Examples

Pilot Project to Measure Core Learning Outcomes

Colleges and universities participating in the College Portrait measure the typical improvement in students' abilities to think, reason, and write using one of three tests. This is part of a 4-year pilot project to better understand and compare what students learn between their freshman and senior years at different colleges and universities.

As the pilot project comes to a close, it is important to evaluate the effectiveness of the pilot project within the College Portrait and to disclose the results to the public. All VSA participating institutions are encouraged to report their results; CSU Bakersfield reported results from one of the VSA-approved value-added SLO assessments below. Institutions who have not posted SLO results from one of the three VSA approved value-added pilot measures by the end of September 2012 are required to report their results here.

2010 - 11 Results from the Collegiate Learning Assessment

The Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA) measures critical thinking, analytic reasoning, problem solving, and written communication using a performance task and an analytic writing task. The scores from the tasks are reported separately below.

Test Administration Process

Test Information

Performance Task Results for First-time, Full-time Students

The increase in learning on the performance task is at or near what would be expected at an institution testing students of similar academic abilities.

Freshman Score: 1078
Senior Score: 1084
CLA score range: 400 to no maximum score.

Average EAA scores for tested students
Freshman Score: 1021
Senior Score: 979

Analytic Writing Task Results for First-time, Full-time Students

The increase in learning on the analytic writing task is at or near what would be expected at an institution testing students of similar academic abilities.

Freshman Score: 1075
Senior Score: 1101
CLA score range: 400 to no maximum score.