Student Learning Assessment at North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State 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.
Engaged teaching matters at North Carolina A&T because we are an institution that focuses on students. By assessing what students learn in the classroom, we improve how we teach and make sure that students get whatever support they need in and outside of the classroom. To measure how well we are doing we measure ourselves against other institutions by participating in national assessments, such as the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA) and the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). In house, academic departments document what students know, using a variety of methods that recognize different learning styles. We use the findings to improve teaching and, thus, enhance student learning.
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.
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.
Performance Task Results for First-time, Full-time Students
The increase in learning on the performance task is what would be expected at an institution with students of similar academic abilities.
Freshman Score: 996
Senior Score: 1102
CLA score range: 400 to no maximum score.
Analytic Writing Task Results for First-time, Full-time Students
The increase in learning on the analytic writing task is what would be expected at an institution with students of similar academic abilities.
Freshman Score: 983
Senior Score: 1117
CLA score range: 400 to no maximum score.
