SCSU Seniors Defy Expectations

Thu., Mar 08

A national assessment test measuring critical thinking skills shows that Southern students may be greatly "misunderestimated."

The students showed much larger gains between their freshman and senior years than most of their peers across the nation on the 2010-11 Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA) - a test that evaluates students' ability in several skill areas, such as analytic reasoning and evaluation; writing effectiveness; writing mechanics and problem solving. And perhaps more impressive is that Southern seniors greatly exceeded expectations in how well they performed on the exam compared with projections. Those projections are based on freshman CLA test scores and the SATs.

When all factors are weighed, Southern's seniors reached the 91st percentile nationally in terms of exceeding expectations in the educational gains by its students between their freshman and senior years.

"We are very proud of our students and the academic progress that they demonstrate during their years at Southern," says Marianne Kennedy, interim provost/vice president for academic affairs (pictured at right). "The positive result from this test is indicative of the quality of our faculty and the strong work ethic of our students. Our faculty members are dedicated first and foremost to effective teaching and the test results exemplify their success in reaching our students."

Kennedy adds that the benefits of a college education are in large part dependent upon the effort that people put into it.

"It's obvious from the CLA test that our students are conscientious about their education, exceed expectations and will be prepared to contribute significantly to the Connecticut workforce," she says.
A group of 121 Southern freshmen took the CLA exam last fall and their raw average score was better than 30 percent of the 144 higher education institutions participating across the country. But in the spring, 98 Southern seniors took the exam and scored higher than 40 percent of seniors from those same schools. That gain of 10 percentage points was significant enough to land the university a spot on the "above expected" performance level. But when taking into account its modest SAT scores compared with the other schools, Southern's performance was even more dramatic, vaulting to the top 9 percent in the nation in terms of improvement vis-a-vis expectations.

In addition to the stellar results on the CLA test, Southern students also have been selected to participate in a groundbreaking international project. The 34-nation Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development has selected Southern as one of just 10 schools in the United States to participate in a feasibility study for an international assessment test of general skills. The project is intended to compare college students in the areas of critical thinking, analytic reasoning, problem solving and written communication. Southern students are being measured against college students from Colombia, Egypt, Finland, South Korea, Kuwait, Mexico and Norway, as well as those from four U.S. states - Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Missouri.

Michael Ben-Avie, senior research analyst in the SCSU Office of Assessment and Planning (pictured above), says that while there are international tests that compare high school students in math and science, he is not aware of a test that can effectively compare college students from multiple countries in multiple skills. "Our participation in the early stages of this exciting project enables Southern to play an important role in the discussion on how to measure and compare student learning around the globe," he says.

Charles S. Lenth, vice president for policy analysis and academic affairs for the State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO), praises Southern for its efforts to participate in the international project. SHEEO is coordinating the U.S. participation in the program.

"It is clear that Southern has a highly competent and committed team already at work in the assessment of student learning," said Lenth says. "The university has much experience and expertise to share with other institutions and nations. Connecticut and the United States will help shape the next steps in cross-national assessment of student learning."