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The Chronicle of Higher Education - Information provided by ETS
ETS Education Solutions
ETS Suite of Learning Outcomes Assessments

ETS Suite of Learning Outcomes Assessments
General Education Outcomes Assessment
While individual colleges have unique missions, many share the same learning goals that include a student's proficiency in reading, writing, critical thinking and mathematics. The ability to assess students' general education skills provides clear means of documenting an IHE's value in the education process while providing accountability to a variety of stakeholders.

The MAPP™Test by ETS is the only integrated test of general education outcomes focusing on measuring the academic skills developed through general education courses, rather than on the knowledge acquired about the subjects taught in these courses. The MAPP test provides reliable and detailed information a college or university needs to measure student achievement, evaluate program effectiveness and benchmark performance. Score reports and comparative data provide IHEs with the data required to document performance for accreditation, strategic planning and developing and improving curricula.

Major Field Outcomes Assessment
Colleges and universities have individual missions that make them unique in developing their undergraduate and graduate degree programs. The ETS Major Field Tests, an innovative battery of undergraduate outcomes assessments designed to measure the basic knowledge and understanding achieved by students in a major field of study, are constructed according to specifications developed and reviewed by committees of experts in 15 undergraduate subject areas plus MBA programs.

For each test, the aim is to provide an instrument that measures the subject matter and skills a student should master from his or her major area of study. In addition, the Major Field Test for MBA is among the assessment tools suggested by AACSB and ACBSP to assist business programs with continuous improvement.

Information and Communication Technology Assessment
In this day and age, we take for granted that every student knows how to boot up a computer, surf the Internet and exchange e-mail with family and friends. While technology has transformed the classroom, colleges and universities are finding Information and Communication Technology (ICT) literacy to be critical in student success both in the academic and workforce environments. Jennifer Dorner, Humanities and Social Sciences Librarian at Portland State University wondered, "Is there a tool out there to measure information and technology communication skills, in an effort to better evaluate the effectiveness of existing ICT-based curricula and identify areas in which ICT literacy resource allocations should be placed."

ETS and a group of colleges and universities have collaborated to create the ICT Literacy Assessment, a comprehensive test of ICT literacy proficiency. The assessment goes beyond testing student's knowledge of technology, but the ability to use critical thinking skills to solve problems within a technological environment. The 75-minute ICT Literacy Assessment presents real-time, scenario-based tasks and is offered at two levels of difficulty:

  • Core Level Assessment is appropriate for students doing entry-level course work (all community college students, students in their first and second years of college, and high school seniors.) It allows administrators and faculty to assess a student's cognitive technical proficiencies based on entry-level course work.
  • Advanced Level Assessment is designed for students transitioning to upper-level course work and supports articulation decision, provides guidance for rising juniors in determining readiness for advanced-level study and informs student achievement and ICT curriculum effectiveness.
The assessment provides support for institutional ICT literacy initiatives, guides curricula innovations, informs articulation and progress standings, and assesses individual student proficiency.

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