Real-Time Student Assessment: Meeting the Imperative for Improved Time to Degree, Closing the Opportunity Gap, and Assuring Student Competencies for 21st Century Needs by Peggy L. Maki (review)

Peggy Maki argues that the current state of assessment is not fulfilling its intended purpose of improving students’ learning because it is still too frequently motivated by external forces without an internal commitment to improve student learning for current students. Assessment practice must change now to account for the increasing diversification of students on campus, address persistence gaps in degree completion rates for minoritized students, ensure a global citizenry that is educated and can meet the needs of a global economy and solve problems that have not yet arisen. While more colleges and universities are using nationally recognized student outcomes frameworks—such as the Essential Learning Outcomes by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (n.d.) and the Degree Qualification Profile by the Lumina Foundation (2018)—to guide education programs, few institutions are assessing student progress towards achievement of these outcomes in order to benefit current students. Rather, assessment is implemented in a more periodic fashion with the goal of program improvement to benefit future students. Maki argues that what is needed to ensure equitable attainment of the identified student outcomes is continuous assessment that capitalizes on opportunities to identify students who are struggling and addresses, in real-time, the obstacles current students face to help them succeed. This approach is what she terms “real-time assessment.”

Recent texts outline how to implement assessment (Banta & Palomba, 2014; Henning & Roberts, 2016; Kuh et al., 2015; Schuh, Biddix, Dean, & Kinzie, 2016; Suskie, 2014, 2018) or discuss specific assessment tools or methods to employ (Barkley & Major, 2016; Massa & Kasimatis, 2017). Maki’s book differs in that it deepens the assessment conversation, providing direction regarding how to implement assessment in the present to improve programs and services to benefit students now.

Through the six chapters in the book, Maki provides a guide for real-time assessment. In chapter 1, she articulates why equity matters in higher education by providing evidence to demonstrate disparities in retention and graduation rates for students across demographic categories. She continues by positing the needs for a diverse, educated citizenry who can meet the requirements of a global society. In the second chapter, Maki describes a few nationally recognized outcomes frameworks that provide the foundation for effective assessment practice, and she articulates how these can offer scaffolding for coherent degree pathways for students. Maki provides guidance in chapter 3 regarding learner-centered commitments that institutions must make to develop clear and coherent degree pathways supported and informed by real-time student assessment. These commitments are:

Commitment 1: Shared commitment to close existing achievement and graduation gaps measurably

Commitment 2: Agreement on language of outcomes and scoring rubrics to identify patterns of performance and underperformance continuously

Commitment 3: Coherence across the curriculum, cocurriculum, and other educational experiences

Commitment 4: Alignment of courses, educational experiences, and assignments with outcomes and standards and criteria of judgment

Commitment 5: Faculty collaboration with the institution’s network of experts

Transitioning from foundational commentary to concrete directions, Maki discusses guiding principles for implementing real-time assessment at the program and institutional levels in chapter 4. The principles she outlines include:

Principle 1: Internally driven and motivated

Principle 2: Inclusive of internal stakeholders

Principle 3: Bolstered by collaboration that harnesses others’ expertise and practices

Principle 4: Anchored in continuous reporting and interrogation of assessment results

Principle 5: Responsive to students’ needs in the present tense

Principle 6: Valued by the institution

This chapter includes two institutional and two program case studies, which bring the principles to life by providing concrete examples. Additionally, in chapter 4, Maki provides an instructive table that compares characteristics of real-time assessment with point-in-time assessment approaches. Maki uses chapter 5 to outline types of technology that are useful for implementing real-time assessment, describing the purposes of...