Results (R)

1R1 Accomplishing Results for Common Student Learning Objectives and Specific Program Learning Objectives

Figure 1.1 identifies progress for many of the strategic goals and objectives that are associated with Helping Students Learn.

This section reviews student learning outcomes in general education as measured through course assessments, the Academic Profile and the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA). Results for Western compared favorably to available state or national student outcomes.

DHE maintains a database for Missouri institutions that provides a historical profile of the percentage of students taking a nationally normed test in general education and scoring at or above the 50th percentile. Western administers the ETS Academic Profile Exam to graduating seniors to measure student learning in general education skills areas. The majority of Missouri public four-year institutions use the Academic Profile. As shown in Figure 1.9, 98-99 percent of Western graduates take the Academic Profile, compared to approximately 75 percent for Missouri public universities. Over eight years, Western students have declined in student performance (from 58 percent to 45 percent over the 50th percentile). 1I2 identifies student areas related to the ETS Academic Profile targeted for improvement. Missouri universities have also shown a declining pattern of performance since 2000. This change exists in relation to an increasing percent of students taking the test (see especially 2003 and 2004).

Western compares its Academic Profile results with national norms for 19,142 seniors enrolled in Baccalaureate (Liberal Arts) Colleges I and II across the country. These seniors must be enrolled in at least 90 semester hours or 140 quarter hours. Many of the schools in the national sample have higher selectivity standards than Western. Figure 1.10 presents the reading, writing, and mathematical skill competency data for graduating students at Western and nationally. These data indicate that Western students score slightly lower than the national sample in these foundational skills.

In 2004, Western participated in the Council for Aid to Education’s (CAE) national database of the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA). The CLA measures critical thinking, analytic reasoning, problem solving, and written communication. Data indicate that the ACT is a positive predictor of the CLA outcomes. First-year students and seniors at Western achieved CLA scores as predicted by their ACT scores. As a measure of value-added learning, seniors scored higher than freshmen.

Figure 1.9 General Education Assessment

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Figure 1.10 Results of ETS Academic Profile 2005 for Western

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