University of North Carolina Wilmington College Portrait

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Students
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Admissions
See how many students applied, accepted, and enrolled at UNC Wilmington. Learn more about students’ high school preparation and test scores.
College Costs & Financial Aid
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College Cost Estimator
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Classes and Campus Life
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Student Experiences
Discover ways to be actively involved in your education at UNC Wilmington – inside and outside the classroom.
Majors, Graduation and Next Steps
See which majors are most popular at UNC Wilmington and what recent graduates plan to do after earning their bachelor's degree.
Student Success & Progress
Discover how many students who start at UNC Wilmington 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 UNC Wilmington.

Student Learning at University of North Carolina Wilmington

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 UNCW, passionate and engaged teaching, learning and research matter. The assessment of student learning guides our curricula and is a critical component of the powerful UNCW learning experience, both for general and specialized education. We focus on how the university and every program of the university contribute to student development, comparing what students know when they begin their UNCW learning experience with what they know as they advance through our programs and with what they know when they graduate. In addition to taking advantage of nationally recognized assessment tools such as the Collegiate Learning Assessment and the National Survey of Student Engagement, UNCW utilizes graduation and retention rates, professional certification rates, regional and national awards, academic program review, applied learning experiences, surveys, and professional accreditation in measuring the successes of our students.

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.

- 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: 1107
Senior Score: 1215
CLA score range: 400 to no maximum score.

Average ACT scores for tested students
Freshman Score: 25
Senior Score: 24

Average EEA scores for tested students
Freshman Score: 1164
Senior Score: 1148

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

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

Freshman Score: 1070
Senior Score: 1187
CLA score range: 400 to no maximum score.