The Collegiate Learning Assessment
During 2005-2006, Kalamazoo College administered a relatively new assessment instrument called the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA). The CLA measures an institution’s value added to the intellectual development of its students in four key areas:
- Critical thinking
- Analytical reasoning
- Problem solving
- Written communication
All of our students have abilities in these areas when they matriculate, and everyone anticipates improvement in these areas during the college years (and beyond!). The 2005 entering class took the CLA during orientation week. In 2009, we will ask these students to take the exam again. Because our goal is to measure the College's effectiveness in enhancing the education of our students, we will be using data we collect in the aggregate to illustrate how much the graduating class of 2009, as a whole, develops over four years. |
The Results are in!
Kalamazoo College’s value-added from first-years to seniors was well above expected.
 Big Picture Results, Fine-Grained Analysis: Understanding CLA Performance at Kalamazoo College (159K, 13 pages)
One-page Summary (20K)
Figures at a Glance
 Figure 1: Relationship Between CLA Performance and incoming Academic Ability [enlarge]
 Figure 2: Distribution of Schools by Actual Minus Expected Scores (in Standard Errors) and Performance Levels. [enlarge]
Full Institutional Report
Download Kalamazoo College's full report here.
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About the CLA
The Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA) is an innovative approach to assessing an institution’s contribution to student learning. It was developed by the Council for Aid to Education (CAE) with the RAND Corporation. The measures are designed to simulate complex, ambiguous situations that every successful college graduate may one day face. Students are asked to analyze complex material and provide written responses. The CLA measures are uniquely designed to test for reasoning and communications skills that most agree should be one outcome of a college education.
More information
Council for Aid to Education (CAE)
MEASURE BY MEASURE A new effort to determine how well schools teach, BY JAY MATHEWS, Atlantic Monthly, October 2004
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