Chapter 10: Tenets of Educational Assessment

Assessment in education focuses on the observation and measurement of learning to refine educational programs and improve student outcomes. After many years working with continuous program improvement in higher education, it is evident that there are certain principles that assessment leaders, institutional administrators, assessment coordinators, and university faculty themselves may follow as a guide to reimagine and improve the preparation of pre-service educators. With increased expectations for the development and refinement of quality assurance systems for accreditation and the meeting of standards for program approval, the effective and meaningful use of assessment data requires a principled approach by any respectable educator preparation program (EPP). This approach is framed and illustrated by the following tenets and corresponding examples from an EPP that has maintained continuous accreditation since 1952 and started its first doctoral program in 2018.