campus partner(s)

Hampshire College

Allegheny College

Bard College

Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts at Wabash College

Hamilton College

Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Hope College

and Vassar College

state(s)

IN, MA,MI, NY, PA

amount

$300,000

initiative

Outcomes and Assessment

award date

05.2005

project director

Steven Weisler

Hampshire College

Grant Summary

$300,000 over 36 months. The institutions propose a three-year collaboration to develop three assessment projects that have great significance for their institutions and for liberal arts colleges and educators nationally: (1) a comparative and longitudinal assessment of the development of student writing and other foundational skills; (2) the creation, guided by a committee of faculty and administrators from all the consortium member campuses, of a "common data set" that can be used to inform the improvement of teaching and learning on all campuses; and (3) a series of consultancies and meetings designed to integrate assessment efforts and practices at all levels of an institution (e.g., courses, departments, co-curricular, broader institutional goals, objectives, and outcomes). Through this consortium, the colleges intend to better identify the connections between engagement and learning, and to increase the use of assessment data by both faculty and administrators to improve academic programs and learning outcomes.