Blog Post

In the rapidly evolving higher education landscape, institutions must adapt to their student bodies’ diverse and dynamic needs. Institutions that employ integrated planning will find themselves better positioned to thrive in this time of rapid change. While integrated planning emphasizes many tenets, like cross-functional collaboration and organizational alignment, one of the most important (and difficult) is the intentional linkage between planning, resource allocation, and assessment.

The Grand Challenges in Assessment in Higher Education Project promotes a strategic approach to improving assessment and how it is used and leveraged across an institution. This initiative identifies and addresses key challenges, enabling institutions to enhance assessment to better meet the needs of students, faculty, and stakeholders.

In recognition of the important role assessment plays in integrated planning, SCUP is an endorsing organization of the Grand Challenge in Assessment Project. In this blog post, we discuss the project and explore how it can help advance integrated planning in higher education.

What Is a Grand Challenge and Why Does it Matter?

A grand challenge is a complex issue that demands collaborative efforts, promises substantial and measurable impact, and attracts dedicated individuals to work toward a solution. Across various fields, grand challenges serve as organizing principles for common goals. The Grand Challenges in Assessment in Higher Education Project applies this approach to higher education, recognizing the transformative potential of collaborative problem-solving.

What Are the Goals of the Grand Challenges in Assessment Project?

The project seeks to tackle grand challenges in assessment through national collaborations, systematic inquiries, and the dissemination of practical solutions. By empowering and unifying higher education professionals, the project seeks to foster innovation, improve learning, and promote equity in higher education.

How Does the Project Function?

With the support of an advisory board representing 10 endorsing organizations, the project engages over 400 volunteers in addressing 3 identified challenges. These challenges enjoy broad national support, and strategic plans have been developed to address them at both local and national levels. The project’s website serves as a hub for information, offering full access to strategic plans and additional resources. Visit the site to see complete strategic plans and learn more about the project.

What Are the Grand Challenges and How Do They Relate to Integrated Planning?

Making Assessments Actionable and Visible to Support Innovation

Like integrated planning, the Grand Challenges Project encourages cross-disciplinary collaboration that transcends departmental boundaries. High-quality assessment data can inform planning and budgetary decisions across the institution, encouraging and supporting innovation and positive change.

Encouraging the Money to Follow the Assessments

The project focuses on fostering a culture of shared responsibility for educational outcomes, breaking down silos, and encouraging a thoughtful examination of failures. The interrogation of failures is one of several ways we work to improve the quality of the data.

Making Assessments Actionable

In integrated planning, data continue to inform planning decisions, even into implementation. To support successful innovations and sunset unsuccessful ones, the project is working to improve assessment methodology so that findings fully describe the outcomes associated with creative practices. The project is also working to increase the differentiation between good ideas that were poorly implemented and bad ideas that were implemented as planned by encouraging the tracking of the fidelity of efforts.

Making Assessments Visible

By leveraging assessment data, institutions can make informed decisions about curriculum design, teaching methodologies, and resource allocation. However, high-quality data must be shared effectively with those responsible for budget decisions. The project is working with assessment practitioners to find ways to communicate complex findings to college leaders who are not assessment experts by encouraging the use of data storytelling and improved data visualizations.

Using Assessment Findings to Drive Rapid and Equitable Improvements in Pedagogy

Many institutions employ integrated planning to improve student success. A central goal of the Grand Challenges in Assessment Project is to enhance student learning. The project encourages institutions to move beyond traditional assessment methods to explore innovative approaches that directly impact student success by measuring and responding to student learning over time. By incorporating evidence-based practices and leveraging technology, institutions can increase the extent to which they tailor educational experiences to meet individual needs.

Measuring Learning Rather than Measuring Knowledge

Too often we focus on student knowledge at a single point in time, without regard for what has been learned. We also often exclusively measure learning in the classroom and ignore learning that occurs in co-curricular and extracurricular settings. As institutions enroll increasingly diverse students who transfer with increasing frequency, it becomes essential to measure the changes in knowledge over time that represent true learning. The project is working with faculty from across the country to identify better practices to measure student learning in curricular, co-curricular, and extracurricular settings.

Making Rapid Improvements

Integrated planning helps institutions adopt and use technological advancements. The project is encouraging faculty to leverage technology to provide formative information about learning that can direct their instructional efforts. Adaptive instruction platforms and formative assessments can enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of teaching by allowing real-time adjustments to support the actual learning that is taking place. The project is also exploring ways that platforms such as ChatGPT can provide faculty with feedback on ways to improve teaching materials, before they use them in the classroom, by providing the perspective of a student or a pedagogy expert.

Using Assessment Findings to Increase Equity

Inclusivity and equity are core tenets of many institutional plans, and this challenge was viewed as the most important one facing the field of assessment. The project is gathering resources that promote equity in assessment, which will soon be shared. We are also conducting interviews with educational leaders to gather diverse perspectives on the challenges and opportunities related to equitable assessment. By incorporating diverse perspectives into the assessment process, institutions can ensure planning decisions improve equity and inclusivity.

Conclusion

The Grand Challenges in Assessment Project has much to offer those seeking to adopt integrated planning at their institutions. By providing a comprehensive framework for assessment that aligns with many of the tenets of integrated planning, the project empowers institutions to navigate the complex landscape of higher education effectively. As SCUP continues to guide institutions in their pursuit of excellence, the Grand Challenges in Assessment in Higher Education Project stands as a valuable resource, driving continuous improvement and fostering a culture of innovation in higher education. If you would like to join our mailing list or volunteer to serve on a national implementation team, please complete this form.

Author Biography

Karen Singer-Freeman, PhD, is the director of research in the Center for the Advancement of Teaching at Wake Forest University. Her research examines educational interventions that support the success of underserved students. Previously, Singer-Freeman served as the director of academic planning and assessment in the Office of Assessment and Accreditation at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and as a tenured associate professor and psychology department chair at Purchase College, State University of New York. Singer-Freeman co-directs the Grand Challenges in Assessment in Higher Education Project.