Measuring Stick
Experts explore the quality and assessment of higher education.
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Posts from Measuring Stick
The NRC Rankings: Further Thoughts From Stephen Stigler
A prominent critic of the National Research Council’s doctoral-program assessments replies to a recent essay in The Chronicle.
Re-engineering: How One Department Tinkered With Its Instructional Model
Villanova has tried to give first-year students a fuller sense of what it means to think like an engineer.
In Student-Learning Debate, Some Forgotten Voices
In national conversations about college quality, disciplinary associations’ efforts are sometimes strangely ignored.
Learning Assessment: The Regional Accreditors’ Role
Fears over accreditation may drive colleges to conduct learning-assessment projects. A new paper describes some of the pressures that regional accreditors bring to bear.
Q&A: The Uncertain Future of Transcript Reform
A few institutions have tried to make student transcripts more comprehensible by including information about the grade distribution for each course.
Exhibit A in the NRC Rankings’ Problems
Ohio State’s doctoral program in communications is proud of its rankings in the National Research Council’s new report. But the program has changed since the data were collected in 2006.
The NRC Report: Provosts in Electrified Cages
With the council’s assessments about to arrive, four scholars have just published a paper about the meaning—and limits—of doctoral-program prestige.
Making College Degrees Easier to Interpret
When employers look at job candidates’ transcripts, it’s too hard for them to infer what the candidates actually learned at college.
Perverse-Incentives Watch: ‘Times Higher Education’ Edition
Will the newest set of international rankings inspire universities to do the right thing?
Learning Assessments: Let the Faculty Lead the Way
When assessment programs are homegrown, they sometimes lead to profound improvements in student learning.