Resource Released for Using the CAS Standards to Build a Culture of Assessment

The Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS) is pleased to announce the release of a new resource on using the CAS standards to build a culture of assessment. This white paper was written by Alice A. Mitchell, Ph.D., Manager of the Testing Office at the University of Maryland, College Park.

CAS, a consortium composed of over 40 collaborating professional associations representing over 115,000 professionals in higher education, has developed standards for 47 functional areas and 3 cross-functional teams, and rooted them in the scholarship and work conducted within their respective fields. Standards delineate expectations for practitioners and educators in related functional areas, and are published in the 2019 CAS Professional Standards for Higher Education (10th ed), with subsequent updates released online.

In this white paper on using CAS standards to build a culture of assessment, Mitchell evaluates the degree to which use of CAS standards can assist a division of student affairs or units within that division in building a culture of assessment. Mitchell uses Henning and Roberts' (2016) 3 x 5 model of a culture of assessment to evaluate the CAS Standards and offers ideas for implementation and examples of successful efforts throughout the paper. 

CAS Past-President Gavin Henning commented on the value of this white paper, noting that “Building a culture of assessment can be a daunting task as it requires organizational change. Mitchell provides a map with clear markers to reach that destination.”

CAS is pleased to release this resource to assist practitioners in building a culture of assessment at their institutions. This new resource is now available at: https://store.cas.edu/using-the-cas-standards-to-build-a-culture-of-assessment/

Please direct all questions and inquiries to the CAS Executive Director ([email protected]).