ABSTRACT
In about 1985, the higher education assessment movement began as an effort to help colleges and universities record their educational outcomes and bring this resource out into the discussions of faculty, academic communities, and public review, for continued educational development and decision-making. Close analysis of faculty using assessment data effectively suggests some of the presumptions that have characterized assessment programs, leading frequently to resistance and limited faculty engagement. Alongside careful examination of the use of standardized tests in college settings, they draw extensively on the experience of the University of Tennessee and the challenges it faced in getting faculty to use assessment data from the undergraduate program. Bain's (2004) study of exceptional teachers and their approaches to instruction has provided a great resource for thinking about how teaching develops in the professoriate. Basic assessment literature has frequently made the case that assessment processes should have links to the practice of faculty and staff.
