(Yesterday we took a slightly glib look at faculty members’ fear and loathing of learning-assessment projects. Today we’re pleased to offer a more serious contribution, from Pat Hutchings, a senior associate with the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, who has written about this topic for several years. —Ed.)

The barriers to faculty involvement in assessment have been extensively catalogued over the years. Promotion and tenure systems do not reward such work. Time is short and other agendas loom larger. Most faculty members have no formal training in assessment—or, for that matter, in teaching and course design. Given developments in K-12, there are concerns, too, about the misuse of data, and skepticism about whether assessment brings real benefits to learners. These and other impediments are widespread and well known, and they no doubt help to explain the findings from…

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