NPEC Sourcebook on Assessment:  
          Definitions and Assessment Methods 
            for Communication, Leadership, 
           Information Literacy, Quantitative 
           Reasoning, and Quantitative Skills 
                              
                              
                              
                 Report of the National Postsecondary 
               Education Cooperative Working Group on 
                   Student Outcomes Sourcebook 
          
          
          
          
          
          
          
          
                                   
             
                                                 
                                                 
                                                 
                                                 
                                                 
                                                 
                                                 
                                                 
                  NPEC Sourcebook on Assessment:  
                Definitions and Assessment Methods  
                    for Communication, Leadership, 
                  Information Literacy, Quantitative 
                  Reasoning, and Quantitative Skills 
                                                 
                                                 
                                                 
                            Report of the National Postsecondary 
                         Education Cooperative Working Group on 
                                Student Outcomes Sourcebook 
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
            Prepared for the Executive Committee of the National Postsecondary Education Cooperative 
            (NPEC) and its Working Group by Elizabeth A. Jones and Stephen RiCharde, under the 
            sponsorship of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), U.S. Department of Education. 
                                                 
             
           
          The National Postsecondary Education Cooperative (NPEC) 
           
          NPEC is a voluntary partnership of representatives from postsecondary institutions, associations, 
          government agencies, states, and other organizations with a major interest in postsecondary education. Its 
          mission is to promote the quality, comparability, and utility of postsecondary education data and 
          information that support policy development at the federal, state, and institution levels. The National 
          Center for Education Statistics (NCES) established NPEC and provides resources to support its activities. 
          NPEC receives guidance for its activities from various working groups and committees that are composed 
          of individuals from throughout the United States. 
           
          NPEC publications do not undergo the formal review required for standard NCES products.  The 
          information and opinions published in them are the products of NPEC and do not necessarily represent 
          the policy or views of the U.S. Department of Education or NCES. 
           
          June 2005 
           
          This publication and other NPEC publications may be found at the NCES website: 
           
          The NCES World Wide Web Home Page is http://nces.ed.gov
                                                
          The NCES World Wide Web Electronic Catalogue is http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch 
          The NPEC World Wide Web Home Page is http://nces.ed.gov/npec  
           
          Suggested Citation 
           
          National Postsecondary Education Cooperative. NPEC Sourcebook on Assessment: Definitions and 
          Assessment Methods for Communication, Leadership, Information Literacy, Quantitative Reasoning and 
          Quantitative Skills by Elizabeth A. Jones and Stephen RiCharde,   NPEC 2005-0832. Washington, DC: 
          2005. 
           
          For ordering information on the report, write: 
           
          U.S. Department of Education 
          ED Pubs 
          P.O. Box 1398 
          Jessup, MD 20794-1398 
           
          Or call toll free 1-877-4ED-PUBS; or order online at http://www.edpubs.org 
           
          Contact: 
          Nancy Borkow  
          202-502-7311 
          nancy.borkow@ed.gov 
           
           
           
                                     FOREWORD 
          Faculty, instructional staff, and assessment professionals are interested in student outcomes assessment 
          processes and tools that can be used to improve learning experiences and academic programs. How can 
          students’ skills be assessed effectively? What assessments measure skills in communication? Leadership? 
          Information literacy? Quantitative reasoning? 
           
          The NPEC Sourcebook on Assessment: Definitions and Assessment Methods for Communication, 
          Leadership, Information Literacy, Quantitative Reasoning, and Quantitative Skills is a compendium of 
          information about commercially developed instruments used to assess those skills, including costs, 
          content, reliability and validity, strengths, and limitations of various assessments. In addition, the 
          Sourcebook examines definitions and important outcomes in each of these areas and cites resources that 
          provide more in-depth information about these issues.  
           
          The primary audiences for this publication are faculty, assessment professionals, institutional researchers, 
          and others who are involved in selecting assessments and developing assessment processes. 
          Policymakers, including professional accrediting agencies and state-level boards, may also find this to be 
          a valuable resource.  
           
          NPEC’s sourcebooks on student outcomes assessments have certain limitations. They describe tests that 
          are designed primarily for traditional students and do not describe such “nontraditional” assessment 
          methods as portfolios and competencies. The information in the sourcebooks is time sensitive and may 
          change. For example, the costs of instruments will likely increase, and companies that publish instruments 
          may merge resulting in different contact information. Additionally, evaluations of the tests are based on 
          the way the developers market them and on third-party test reviews.   
           
          The tests and assessments that are reviewed in this sourcebook were identified by the authors through 
          careful research and consideration. They are a sampling of the numerous possible instruments, rather than 
          a comprehensive list of all that were available. In the views of the authors, they are representative of 
          available tests and assessments because multiple sources have cited them as being useful to postsecondary 
          institutions and   most relevant to the outcomes under consideration.  
           
          We would also like to emphasize that all comments about, and reviews of, particular tests or assessments 
          in this publication are descriptive and based on available information. They were not intended, nor should 
          they be construed, as a recommendation for any particular test or assessment.   Rather, a prospective user 
          should take into account the characteristics of the tests and assessments as reported here and should judge 
          their appropriateness and validity for his or her own particular circumstances. 
           
          NPEC has a number of other products that address student outcomes.  The NPEC Sourcebook on 
          Assessment, Volume 1: Definitions and Assessment Methods for Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and 
          Writing (2000), which was created by T. Dary Erwin, is a compilation of assessments that measure three 
          of these student outcome domains.  This first volume is designed to help institutions and states select the 
          appropriate methods that assess the relevant cognitive outcome.  The NPEC Sourcebook on Assessment, 
          Volume 2:  Selected Institutions Utilizing Assessment Results (Erwin 2000) presents the results of 
          assessment case studies at eight institutions.  An exploratory framework is presented in Student Outcomes 
          Information for Policy-Making (Terenzini 1997; see http://nces.ed.gov/pubs97/97991.pdf
                                                                       ). 
          Recommendations for changes to current data collection, analysis, and reporting on student outcomes are 
          included in the paper Enhancing the Quality and Use of Student Outcomes Data (Gray and Grace 1997; 
          see  http://nces.ed.gov/pubs97/97992.pdf).  Defining and Assessing Learning: Exploring Competency-
          Based Initiatives explores the use of competency-based assessments across postsecondary education and 
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