Western Michigan University College Portrait

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Students
Find out more about the characteristics of students who attend WMU.
Admissions
See how many students applied, accepted, and enrolled at WMU. Learn more about students’ high school preparation and test scores.
College Costs & Financial Aid
Learn about costs to attend WMU and how much financial aid is typically awarded.
College Cost Estimator
Estimate your cost to attend WMU in a few simple steps.
Classes and Campus Life
Learn more about professors, where students live, and campus safety at WMU.
Student Experiences
Discover ways to be actively involved in your education at WMU – inside and outside the classroom.
Majors, Graduation and Next Steps
See which majors are most popular at WMU and what recent graduates plan to do after earning their bachelor's degree.
Student Success & Progress
Discover how many students who start at WMU finish their bachelor's degree and how long it takes.
Student Learning Outcomes
Figure out what learning gains to expect in critical thinking, writing, and other important subjects at WMU.

Student Learning at Western Michigan University

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.

At the institutional level, the University Assessment Steering Committee (UASC) serves as WMU’s universitywide assessment policy, planning, and resource coordination group. UASC membership consists of students, faculty, and administrative representatives from Extended University Programs, the academic colleges, the Division of Student Affairs, and student organizations. At the programmatic level, individual academic deans of colleges, academic departments, and the vice president for student affairs are responsible for the design, implementation, and operation of specific academic and co-curricular assessment programs. Each college and division having assessment plans reports annually to the provost on the measurement of student learning outcomes for ongoing program improvement. The report identifies program goals and objectives and instrumentation for measuring goals and objectives; describes the data collected; describes major findings and how they were used for student learning and program improvements; and lists changes to the departmental-level plans.

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 pilot project to better understand and compare what students learn between their freshman and senior years at different colleges and universities.

2009-10 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 above what would be expected at an institution testing students of similar academic abilities.

Freshman Score: 1137
Senior Score: 1242
CLA score range: 400 to no maximum score.

Average EEA scores for tested students
Freshman Score: 1121
Senior Score: 1128

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: 1180
Senior Score: 1305
CLA score range: 400 to no maximum score.