Organizational practices enhancing the influence of student assessment information in academic decisions

Student assessment should not be undertaken as an end in itself but as a me ans to educational and institutional improvement. The purpose of our study is to provide systematic empirical evidence of how postsecondary institutio ns support and promote the use of student assessment information in academi c decision making. We use linear regression to determine which institutiona l variables are related to whether student assessment data is influential i n academic decisions. Our conclusion is that student assessment data has on ly a marginal influence on academic decision making. Our data show there is slightly more influence on educationally related decisions than on: facult y-related decisions, but in neither case is student assessment data very in fluential, Nonetheless, we did find several significant predictor variables in our model, including: the number of institutional studies relating stud ents' performance to their interactions with the institution; conducting st udent assessment to improve internal institutional performance; involving s tudent affairs personnel in student assessment; the extent of student asses sment conducted; and the extent of professional development related to stud ent assessment that is offered to faculty, staff, and administrators. These findings vary by institutional type.