Collegiate Learning Assessment

The Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA) an outgrowth of RAND’s Value-Added Assessment Initiative, was developed by the Council for Aid to Education to measure institutional achievements in student learning in four key general education core skills: critical thinking, analytic reasoning, problem solving, and written communication. The CLA focuses on the institution rather than the individual student as the primary unit of analysis. An online test, the CLA employs a variety of authentic tasks to assess achievement of these complex skills: Performance Tasks, which consist of a scenario, a "document library," and a short series of open-ended questions; and Analytic Writing Tasks, which include Make-an-Argument and Critique-an-Argument. Importantly, CLA results are controlled for incoming academic ability. The University of Kentucky is currently administering the longitudinal version of the CLA, which assesses the changes in academic achievement of a specific cohort of students over time.

Freshmen Tested in Fall 2007

	Student Count	Mean SAT/Converted ACT Score	Expected CLA Score	Actual CLA Score	Performance Level*
Total CLA Score	303	1173	1147	1164	At Expected
Performance Task	307	1171	1142	1201	Well Above Expected
Analytic Writing Task	303	1173	1147	1123	Below Expected
Make-an-Argument	303	1173	1151	1109	Below Expected
Critique-an-Argument	306	1172	1143	1136	At Expected

Seniors Tested in Spring 2008

	Student Count	Mean SAT/Converted ACT Score	Expected CLA Score	Actual CLA Score	Performance Level*
Total CLA Score	102	1191	1243	1283	Above Expected
Performance Task	51	1202	1247	1317	Well Above Expected
Analytic Writing Task	51	1179	1239	1248	At Expected
Make-an-Argument	51	1179	1233	1253	Above Expected
Critique-an-argument	51	1179	1243	1242	At Expected

*The Performance Level is based on the standardized deviation score between the actual and the expected CLA scores.

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Last modified: October 19, 2009 11:28 AM | An Equal Opportunity University