Collegiate Learning Assessment

The Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA) is a standardized testing initiative in United States higher educational evaluation and assessment. It uses a "value-added" outcome model to examine a college or university’s contribution to student learning. The CLA relies on the institution, rather than the individual student, as the primary unit of analysis. The CLA measures are designed to test for critical thinking, analytic reasoning, problem solving, and written communication skills. The assessment consists of open-ended questions, is administered to students online, and controls for incoming academic ability. An institution's average score on the CLA measures correlates highly with the institution's average SAT score (r = 0.90)<ref name="Benjamin and Chun 2003 28">. Institutional results are not published.

However, the CLA is not just a test and is committed to the improvement of institutional teaching and learning through not only assessment, but also through research, best practice, community building, and faculty development. This is evidenced by the CLA's training initiatives as part of "CLA in the Classroom."

The CLA was first launched in 2000 by the Council for Aid to Education (CAE), a national nonprofit organization based in New York City. CAE also is the nation's sole source of empirical data on private giving to education, through the annual Voluntary Support of Education (VSE) survey and its Data Miner interactive database.

See also

Voluntary System of Assessment--an initiative developed by American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) and the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULGC) for 4-year public colleges and universities. The VSA endorses the use of the CLA for reporting out student learning outcomes through the College Portrait.

External links

• Collegiate Learning Assessment