Learning Outcomes and Assessment

This website is designed to provide information about assessment at American University and to assist programs as they move forward on the development and implementation of learning outcomes and assessment plans. Students, faculty, and others who may be interested in knowing more about the expected learning outcomes in a program can find AU's published here. Articulating learning expectations, and assessing our own success, is important to AU. Please feel free to explore this website to see the many ways in which AU is working to implement the vision articulated by Thomas Angelo:

Assessment is an ongoing process aimed at understanding and improving student learning. It involves making our expectations explicit and public; setting appropriate criteria and high standards for learning quality; systematically gathering, analyzing, and interpreting evidence to determine how well performance matches those expectations and standards; and using the resulting information to document, explain, and improve performance. When it is embedded effectively within larger institutional systems, assessment can help us focus our collective attention, examine our assumptions, and create a shared academic culture dedicated to assuring and improving the quality of higher education.

AAHE Bulletin, November 1995, p. 7.

Should you have any questions about assessment, please feel free to contact Karen Froslid Jones at kfroslid@american.edu or at (202) 885-6155.