Deadline
for Applications: October 16, 2013
Award Information
Evidence of student achievement, student
learning outcomes, plays an increasingly important role in discussions of
higher education accountability, quality and effectiveness. At the same time,
developing and using capacity to address student learning outcomes is a
complex and significant challenge for colleges and universities, whether
pursued at the level of an institution, a program or a major. This award
acknowledges outstanding practices in developing and applying evidence of
student learning outcomes as part of the ongoing accountability, evaluation
and improvement of college and university programs of study. Up to four
awards will be made each year. Awards will be presented at the CHEA Annual
Conference.
Eligibility
Applications will be accepted only from
current CHEA institutional members. For members who are prior award winners
and wish to submit a proposal for another award, the second proposal will be
considered only if it is for a different program or major from the initial
award or, if an initial institutional award, is a proposal for a program or
major.
Categories of Award
The application may be institution-wide,
focused on a specific program or focused on a major. Each application should
contain a designation of the category for which it has been prepared:
institution, program or major. Applications will be judged within the
specific award category designated.
Award Selection and Criteria
Applications
will be reviewed by an Award Committee of individuals from higher education
institutions, higher education associations, accrediting organizations and
the public. Applications will be judged by the extent to which four award
criteria have been met:
- Articulating expected outcomes for an institution,
program or major
- Providing evidence of success with regard to outcomes
- Informing the public (constituents external to an
institution) about expectations and success with regard to outcomes
- Using outcomes for institutional improvement: evidence
that attention to outcomes has benefited the institution, program or
major
In addition to the four
criteria, the committee looks for evidence that outstanding practice related
to outcomes (1) is embedded in an institutional culture, (2) makes good use of
current technology in the methods and tools to track outcomes, (3) includes
extensive use of faculty and strong faculty support, (4) is supported by
institutional leadership that is dedicated to the importance of outcomes and
(5) involves approaches to outcomes that can be replicated at other
institutions.
Application Format
To be considered for an award, an applicant
on behalf of an institution, program or major should complete the four
sections of this application.
Section 1: Contact information for individual
submitting the application
Section 2: Institutional endorsement by the chief executive officer or chief
academic officer
Section 3: Application summary (100 words or less)
Section 4: Award criteria (response to each criterion not to exceed two pages)
Applications that do not conform to format
and length will not be considered by the award committee.
Applications should provide full information in response to each award
criterion. A complete response to each criterion is to be included in the
text. Please do not rely on a review of links by the committee.
Examples of Evidence for Award Criteria
Evidence
can be the result of quantitative and qualitative approaches to gathering
information. It should be relevant to what is being claimed, potentially verifiable
through replication or third-party inspection and representative or typical
of major, program or institutional performance. Evidence must involve
examination of student levels of attainment (individual students or
representative samples) and may include:
- Faculty-designed comprehensive or capstone
examinations and assignments
- Performance on external or licensure examinations
- Authentic performances or demonstrations
- Portfolios of student work over time
- Samples of representative student work
Self-study reports and student satisfaction
surveys do not constitute direct evidence of student learning outcomes.
CHEA Award: Successful Proposals to Date
The CHEA
Award and the New
Leadership Alliance for Student Learning and Accountability:
Committing to Quality: Guidelines for Assessment and Accountability in Higher
Education
The CHEA Award criteria align with the four
principles established in the New Leadership Alliance for Student Learning
and Accountability’s 2012 publication, Committing
to Quality: Guidelines for Assessment and Accountability in Higher Education.
Institutions and programs that have made use of these principles and the
companion document, Assuring
Quality: An Institutional Self-Assessment Tool for Excellent Practice in
Student Learning Outcomes Assessment, may find their work with
the guidelines and practices to constitute a strong foundation for a CHEA
Award application.
Electronic copies of these documents are
available for free download. Print copies are
available at no charge for a shipping and handling fee.
Initiated in 2005 by the Council for Higher
Education Accreditation, the CHEA Award was created to encourage and enhance
attention to student learning outcomes within and among institutions,
programs and majors. The four award criteria are intended to provide a
framework within which higher education may address what students learn and
can do, providing students, the public and the academic community with
reliable evidence of student achievement. The award seeks not only to
acknowledge the work of colleges and universities, but also to encourage
future attention to student learning and to share effective practices in
student learning within the academic community. The award criteria are
described above.
The New Leadership Alliance for Student
Learning and Accountability’s Committing to Quality was published in 2012.
These guidelines are directed to colleges and universities to address the vital
question, “Are students learning?” and to serve as a tool to aid institutions
in taking responsibility for assessing and improving student learning. The
four guidelines, accompanied by additional description of what is needed to
meet the expectations expressed, offer sound and useful ideas to institutions
seeking to move forward in this important area. The guidelines call on
institutions to:
- Set ambitious goals
- Gather evidence of student learning
- Use evidence to improve student learning
- Report evidence and results
Applicants who effectively address the CHEA
Award criteria will likely meet the expectations of the Committing to Quality
guidelines and vice-versa. Both the criteria and the guidelines (1) call on
institutions and programs to state their objectives for student learning, (2)
develop evidence that student learning has taken place, (3) use the evidence
to inform the public of what has been accomplished with regard to student
learning and (4) use the evidence for institutional improvement.
It is not a coincidence that the CHEA Award
criteria and the Committing
to Quality guidelines are aligned. The CHEA Award was established
by the Board of Directors representing the 3,000 degree-granting institutions
that are members of CHEA. Committing
to Quality is a publication of an organization devoted to support
of voluntary and cooperative efforts to improve student learning, with a
particular focus on associations of colleges and universities working
together. Both organizations are committed to the centrality of success with
student achievement in higher education and strongly support academic faculty
and the nation’s colleges and universities in carrying out this vital work.
Definitions of Key Terms
For the purposes of the CHEA Award:
- Student learning outcomes is defined as “the knowledge, skills and abilities
that a student has attained at the end (or as a result) of his or her
engagement in a particular set of higher education experiences.” This is
distinguished from a general student outcome that is the result
of attending an institution or program.
- Informing the public is defined as "providing readily available and
easily understood data or analysis that informs students and others
about the success of a major, program or institution."
- Public
is defined as "constituents external to an institution."
- Major
is defined as “an institution-designated concentration that culminates
in a degree” (e.g., history, philosophy, mathematics).
- Program
is defined as “a course of study in a career or professional area that
culminates in a degree" (e.g., nursing, journalism, occupational
therapy).
Award Timeline
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August 8, 2013
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Application released to institutions
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October 16, 2013
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Due date for application submission
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December 9, 2013
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Application review completed
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January 10, 2014
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Award recipients notified
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January 14, 2014
|
2014 Awards announced
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January 28, 2014
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Awards presented at CHEA Annual Conference
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Suggested Reference Materials
Submission Methods
Applications may be submitted as email
attachments in Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat format and sent to espinoza@chea.org.
Applications may be also submitted via U.S. mail or other delivery service to
the following address:
Joél Espinoza
Special Assistant to the President
Council for Higher Education Accreditation
One Dupont Circle NW, Suite 510
Washington, DC 20036-1135
Due
Date
Applications must be received by Wednesday,
October 16, 2013. Acknowledgment of receipt of application will be sent
to the applicant via email.
Additional Information
For
information about CHEA, please visit www.chea.org. For
questions about the CHEA Award, contact Joél Espinoza at 202-955-6126 (espinoza@chea.org).
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