Dozens of Cal State Long Beach freshmen have decided to spend their next two Fridays taking a test.
One hundred Cal State Long Beach freshmen signed up to take the Collegiate Learning Assessment, an optional test for students that looks at several of their skills, both this Friday and next Friday.
The performance-based assessment, created by the Council for Aid to Education (CAE), was originally meant to assess the effectiveness of an institution, but it can serve a dual function, according to CAE Director of Business Development Chris Jackson.
Jackson said the test is also an institution metric as to whether students are learning essential skills on their campuses regardless of their chosen field of study. He said he can also allow students to graduate with additional credential.
Through a series of contextualized prompts, the online test assesses students’ skills in critical thinking, problem solving, scientific and quantitative reasoning, writing and making and critiquing arguments.
Jackson said the exam is a valuable tool for universities to analyze their impact on students and for students to gauge their knowledge and prepare for the future, as well as gain the attention of potential employers.
“The results allow for microanalyses of colleges or demographics within a university,” Jackson said. “The score is also proof that a student possesses on-the-job skills and to what degree their education prepared them. These are skills that employers are looking for and can help students earn jobs.”
CSULB Director of Testing, Evaluation and Assessment Susan Platt said the test also allows students to see how they compare to other students on campus, across the Cal State University system and in the nation.
Platt, whose department directly handles administration of the test, said freshmen are invited to participate in the fall and seniors are invited in the spring.
Platt said participants are offered incentives to take the voluntary assessment. All participating freshmen will receive a waiver to take the Writing Proficiency Exam for free, and two $50 BeachCards will also be raffled off at random. All participating seniors will receive a $25 prepaid BeachCard.
Platt said that students generally benefit from participating in the assessment.
“[Students have] told me they very much enjoyed seeing how they compared in their critical writing skills to other students from similar campuses,” Platt said.
The scores earned by CSULB students are included in the university’s participation report in the Voluntary System of Accountability. The data, which includes scores from all CSUs, is compiled to create a college portrait that allows for a comparative analysis of education in those schools, according to the CSULB website.
“If students benefit, we benefit as well because we’re engaging them in a learning opportunity that helps them, and us, understand how well they are able to write and think critically,” Platt said.
CSULB’s participation in the assessement has shown the university to be one of the most effective institutions in the CSU, with freshmen earning higher scores than 97 percent of participating schools in fall 2011 and seniors earning higher scores than 80 percent of other institutions in spring 2012.
“CSULB has been instrumental to the [assessment] and programs like those,” CSU Spokesman Erik Fallis said. “The whole idea of how to evaluate learning is something that a lot of people in academia have been working towards.”
Although the test was created in 2000, many campuses in the CSU system have just begun to offer the test within the last five years, according to the CAE website.
“The CSU is moving towards accountability,” Fallis said. “The test provides a window into the area where students are learning and skills they are acquiring. It is a means to improve what we offer.”
The test will be held this Friday and the next in Liberal Arts building 1, Room 207.
