The most urgent task of colleges and universities is to prepare graduates for the challenges of career, community, and citizenship. Responsible institutions will be diligent and proactive in determining whether their academic programs increase core collegiate skills in analytical reasoning, mathematics, critical thinking, and writing. This brochure describes several valid, reliable, and nationally-normed assessments that colleges can use to measure the overall intellectual growth of their students. Unlike the tests and papers found in individual courses, these instruments provide a comprehensive profile of academic progress. Trustees will find in this brief guide both a rationale and supporting arguments for implementing institution-wide assessment of growth in core collegiate skills. Governing boards have a crucial role in ensuring that their institutions continuously improve teaching and learning, and objective assessment of core skills is the key element in academic quality assurance.
ACTA today released a report that examines the country’s most prestigious liberal arts colleges. Despite endowments soaring as high as $1.8 billion, nearly all institutions increased tuition during the Great Recession to finance bloated administrative spending, with many college presidents enjoying salaries higher than Barack Obama’s. Education or Reputation? peels back reputation to find out […]
In this 10th edition of its flagship annual survey of college general education curricula, What Will They Learn?, ACTA shines a light on the wide disparity in academic standards at institutions of higher learning across the country. What Will They Learn? reviews the core curricula of over 1,100 four-year public and private institutions across the country […]
Just as July 4th celebrations are set to begin, ACTA’s new report, No U.S. History? How College History Departments Leave the United States out of the Major, reveals that less than 1/3 of the nations leading colleges and universities require students pursuing a degree in history to take a single course in American history. Only 23 […]
A vast gulf separates the ages of 18 and 22. According to law, when we turn 18 a switch is flipped and we become adults. Suddenly we can vote, we can choose where we live, we can decide what classes we take in college. Choosing college course work well is both difficult and high-stakes. In […]
Imagine heading to a college ratings/ranking site and viewing the following set of grades: Yale—F; Cornell —F; and Bowdoin—F One would think that would get your attention? How about: Penn—D; Harvard—D; and Princeton—C So you think the folks doing the ratings must be dumping on every school, right? Not so, there is: University of Texas-Austin—A; […]
It’s no secret that there’s a crisis in higher education: Weak core requirements, painfully low graduation rates, soaring tuition costs and campus speech codes that stifle freedom of speech. The American Council of Trustees and Alumni just released the 2013-2014 version of the What Will They Learn? study. Every public college and university and hundreds […]
Launched in 1995, we are the only organization that works with alumni, donors, trustees, and education leaders across the United States to support liberal arts education, uphold high academic standards, safeguard the free exchange of ideas on campus, and ensure that the next generation receives an intellectually rich, high-quality college education at an affordable price.
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