Dive Brief:
- Educational Testing Service’s HEIghten Outcomes Assessment Suite gives colleges and universities more information about their students’ skills and a way to benchmark and track performance.
- The company announced that the full suite is composed of six modules to measure general education skills and give schools a chance to compare their students to those at other institutions and improve curriculum based on the outcomes.
- So far, modules in critical thinking, written communication, and quantitative literacy are available, with three more modules set for release in 2016.
Dive Insight:
Institutions have their own internal assessments but one thing HEIghten brings to the table is a standardized ability to compare scores across institutions. The K-12 world has gotten more attention for standardized tests and the consequences of not being able to tell how student learning in one school or state can compare to student learning elsewhere.
ETS has not revealed how many colleges and universities participated in its pilot but with additional modules coming on line in 2016, we could see new comparisons taking shape. Schools with positive outcomes will be able to use them in recruitment and schools across the spectrum can at least factor the results into strategic plans for self improvement.