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ASSESSING STUDENT PERFORMANCE ON EC2000 CRITERION 3.a-k

Linda C. Strauss, Patrick T. Terenzini The Pennsylvania State University

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The instruments currently available to measure the 11 student learning skills specified in EC2000’s Critrion 3 are vulnerable to challenges to their validity and reliability. This paper describes the development and evaluation of a 36-item measure specifically designed to assess student performance on those outcomes. Development followed standard test-construction procedures, including a comprehensive review of the literature and available instruments, item and content reviews by engineering faculty and student focus groups, a large pilot test, and a field administration involving 4,558 seniors at 39 randomly selected colleges of engineering. The resulting nine factor-scales align closely with the EC2000 criteria and retain 72% of the original item variance. All but two scales have internal consistency reliabilities above .83. The instrument appears to be a conceptually faithful, psychometrically sound, and practical tool for assessing student learning on Criterion 3.

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In 1996, the ABET Board of Directors adopted a transformative set of criteria for program accreditation that shifted the reaccreditation focus away from an emphasis on meeting curricular, resource, faculty, and facilities standards toward a new focus on student learning outcomes.1,2 The new standards, called Engineering Criteria 2000: Criteria for Accrediting Programs in Engineering in the United States,2 emphasized 11 specific learning outcomes and the assessment of program achievement on those outcomes. The new criteria maintained the previous standards’ emphasis on the development of students’ mathematical, scientific, and technical knowledge, but the new criteria also emphasized developing other professional skills, such as solving unstructured problems, communication, and teamwork skills. Programs are now required to present evidence of student achievement in each of 11 learning outcome areas specified in Criterion 3.a-k.2

Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2005, American Society for Engineering Education

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Strauss, L., & Terenzini, P. (2005, June), Measuring Student Performance On The Ec2000 3.A K Criteria Paper presented at 2005 Annual Conference, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--14455