• Skip to Content

Kelley School of Business Indiana University
  • Programs
    • Undergraduate
    • Full-Time +Flex MBA
    • Kelley Direct Online MBA
    • Online Master's Degrees & Certificates
    • +Kelley
    • 3/2 MBA
    • MS in Accounting with Data and Analytics
    • MS in Finance
    • MS in Healthcare Management
    • MS in Information Systems
    • MS in Management
    • PhD
    • Executive Education
    • Indianapolis Programs
    • International Programs
  • Faculty & Research
    • Research & Publications
    • Faculty Directory
    • Departments & Majors
    • Centers & Institutes
    • Courses
  • Recruiters & Corporate Relations
    • Graduate Career Services
    • Undergraduate Career Services
    • Indianapolis Career Services
    • Alumni Career Resources
    • Corporate & Foundation Relations
    • Indianapolis Corporate & Foundation Relations
  • Alumni
    • Who We Are
    • Get Involved
    • Career & Professional Development
    • Awards
    • Alumni Legacies
    • Events
    • Giving
    • Contact Us
  • About Us
    • Dean's Welcome
    • Administration
    • Kelley Women
    • School Profile
    • History
    • Visit Bloomington
    • Visit Kelley Indianapolis
    • Contact
    • Directory
    • Social Media Directory
    • Rankings
  • More
    • Centers & Institutes
    • Directory
    • News & Events
    • Give
    • Kelley Store
Instructional Consulting and Assessment
  • Assurance of Learning (Assessment)
    • Assessment Basics
    • Program Competencies and Student Learning Outcomes
    • Guiding Principles
  • Personal Consultations
  • Teaching Resources
    • Teaching Seminar Library
    • Book Recommendations
  • Contact
  1. Home
  2. About Us
  3. Directory
  4. Offices
  5. Instructional Consulting
  6. Assurance of Learning (Assessment)
  7. Guiding Principles
  • Assessment Basics
  • Program Competencies and Student Learning Outcomes
  • Guiding Principles
A woman writes on a whiteboard while others observe, engaged in a collaborative brainstorming session.

Guiding principles shape the Kelley School's assessment initiative

The assessment initiative at the Kelley School of Business is framed by both the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) mandate to conduct assurance of learning (assessment) for accreditation purposes and the school’s desire to create a faculty-friendly program.

Assessment must support the school's mission and inform the curriculum

AACSB Eligibility Standards for business accreditation (2013, updated July 1, 2017: Standards 8, 9, and 11) acknowledge assessment of student learning as part of the curriculum management process. Schools must define program competencies, assess student achievement for those competencies, and utilize what is learned through assessment to continually improve the curricula for their programs. More specifically:

  • Program competencies that align with the school’s mission and include both general and management-specific knowledge and skills must be articulated for each degree-granting program. Each program should have four to ten such competencies. At the Kelley School, four to seven are recommended.
  • Student performance on the articulated competencies must be assessed systematically and regularly through direct observation and evaluation of student work or performance. The use of representative samples of students for assessment purposes is permitted.
  • Assessment results must be analyzed, disseminated, and utilized by the faculty for the purpose of curriculum planning and the improvement of teaching and learning.
  • Faculty are expected to be actively involved in all stages of the assessment process including defining competencies, aligning the curriculum, developing appropriate measures, implementing course-embedded measures, and improving the school’s curriculum.

Kelley is committed to assessment that is faculty centered

While the AACSB’s requirements for assurance of learning lay out the principles for a comprehensive assessment program, they must be supplemented by operative principles that guide the initiative with respect to each school’s local context and especially with respect to the people—i.e., the faculty—who will be performing the assessments. Given the already heavy workloads of faculty, the suspicion of the new that academics typically hold, general skepticism of the need for learning outcomes assessment in the first place (we’re a big name business school; why do we have to do this?), and fears that administration is simply looking for a way to monitor everyone’s teaching, it is no surprise that faculty would push back when asked to implement a learning outcomes assessment initiative. Cognizant of these probable reservations on the part of the faculty, whose participation is essential to the success of the school’s assessment initiative, the Kelley School of Business remains committed to making the process of assessment as easy and useful to faculty as possible. This principle guides all interactions with faculty and sets the tone for assessment initiative.

Here's how—and why—assessment is used at Kelley

The assurance of learning assessment initiative at the Kelley School of Business has several aims, ranging from the micro-level of improving teaching and learning in individual courses to the macro-level of guiding curriculum planning and other program-level decisions and demonstrating accountability to external stakeholders.

 

At the local classroom level, assessment plays an important part in fostering more learner-centered pedagogies as instructors are asked to use student learning outcomes rather than content as guides to planning and preparing their classes. Since student learning outcomes must be articulated in measurable language and then assessed, teachers see their work in terms of helping students to learn the knowledge, skills, and attitudes articulated in the student learning outcomes rather than covering content, which does not necessarily guarantee any learning at all. Additionally, for those instructors who develop rubrics to assess their students’ work, the assessment initiative supports teachers in communicating standards and expectations to students clearly and systematically so that students may know what is expected of them and what excellent performance looks like for their instructors.

Of course, the assessment data themselves return direct information about student learning to the instructor, who may then consider what changes—if any—he or she would like to make in the structure or delivery of the course.

Institutionally, the assurance of learning assessment initiative provides the school with well-researched data on which to base decisions about programs and curricula. Such decisions in the pre-assessment era were based on the frequently erroneous assumption that successful completion of a series of courses was tantamount to the mastery of the skills and knowledge guaranteed by a degree. Data gathered from systematic assessment actually demonstrate students’ mastery of certain skills and knowledge so that curricular and programmatic deletions, additions, and changes may be based on what we know and not what we assume.

Another beneficial result of the assessment initiative at the institutional level is its culture-building aspect. As small groups of faculty meet to discuss a program’s learning competencies, as instructors articulate student learning outcomes in measurable language and align them with program competencies, and as rubrics are developed to evaluate student work, a common teaching purpose emerges in the school, serving as both guide and foundation to the work of teachers at every level of instruction.

This common teaching culture, grown organically from the goals of the faculty, facilitates productive discussions and collaborations among faculty about teaching; it also assists in new course development by providing instructors with a clear articulation of the learning competencies the school values and expects its students to achieve.

A school’s assessment initiative can also offer the world beyond the walls of the institution the assurance of accountability, though what information and how much of it to share are questions that must be carefully considered in order to protect the integrity of the assessment program. As external groups and individuals such as potential students, parents, alumni, supporters, employers, and state and federal legislatures have begun to question how much students are actually learning at colleges and universities, it has become important to make what we do as educators more transparent.

Carefully planned and organized assessment programs along with today’s web technology make it easy to show anyone who is interested that a school has carefully articulated learning competencies for each of its programs and a systematic method in place for assessing the extent to which students are achieving those competencies.

An institution may also wish to delineate some specific plans for improving instruction, curricula, or programs. However, when assessment devolves into “proving” student learning or continuous improvement to the outside world—particularly to those who fund the institution at any level—it can quickly become a game of showing improvement and progress at any cost, whether or not any improvement to learning has actually taken place. We therefore hesitate at the idea of demonstrating accountability by sharing direct assessment data of any kind with external constituents. Doing so would almost certainly lead to compromised standards (“gaming the system”), perfunctory assessments, wasted time, and resentment.

As long as this trap can be avoided, there is much to be gained by showing external stakeholders that the Kelley School of Business has a systematic curriculum that drives toward clearly articulated learning competencies, explaining how the curriculum is monitored and how learning competencies are assessed, and thus assuring the public that the Kelley School graduates students who command the knowledge, skills, and attitudes we claim they do. In addition to these benefits, sharing such information with outside interests indicates the focus of the school’s teaching and learning activities, its values, and its culture.

Social media

  • Facebook for the Kelley School of Business Full-Time MBA Program
  • Twitter for the Kelley School of Business
  • Linkedin for the Kelley School of Business Full-Time MBA Program
  • Blog for the Kelley School of Business Full-Time MBA Program
  • Instagram for the Kelley School of Business Full-Time MBA Program
  • Youtube for the Kelley School of Business Full-Time MBA Program
  • Accessibility
  • College Scorecard
  • Privacy Notice
  • Copyright © 2025 The Trustees of Indiana University