• Average Four-Year Degree Program Size
    "How much data do you have?" is an inevitable question for program-level data analysis. For example, assessment reports that attem...
  • Recursive Critical Thinking
    I was going to entitle this piece "critical thinking squared" as a cute way to imply critical thinking about critical thinking, b...
  • Revisiting A Nation at Risk
    In 1981 , Reagan's Secretary of Education commissioned a report that became the 1983 A Nation at Risk: the Imperative for Educational Re...
  • Why Discount Rates Only Go Up
    The annual NACUBO report on tuition discounts was covered in Inside Higher Ed back in April, including a figure showing historical rates. (...
  • Teaching Critical Thinking
    I just came across a 2007 article by Daniel T. Willingham " Critical Thinking: Why is it so hard to teach? " Critical thinking is ...
  • EduPunk and the Matthew Effect
    Inside Higher Ed today has a piece on " The Rise of Edupunk ." I didn't find much new in the article, except that perhaps mai...
  • Grade Transition Maps
    There was a question on the ASSESS email list about evaluating grade distributions for courses. It's an interesting topic, and I dug out...
  • The Well Intentioned Commissar
    (A parable for academic workers and those who direct their activities) by David W. Kammler, Professor Mathematics Department Southern Illino...
  • Problems with Rubric Data
    Introduction Within the world of educational assessment, rubrics play a large role in the attempt to turn student learning into numbers. ...
  • Do this, Don't do that
    Sign, sign Everywhere a sign Blockin' out the scenery Breakin' my mind Do this, don't do that Can't you read the sign?   -...