美国高等教育评估实践经验透视及启示——如何开展系统层次的评估

US Higher Education System-Level Assessment:Practice and Enlightenment

基于对美国高等教育评估实践的分析,讨论了为什么需要以及如何开展系统层次的评估等问题,认为就高等教育而言,任何一个系统绩效评估都包含两种不同层次的活动:系统层次的评估和教育提供者层次的评估。系统层次的评估有两个主要目标:一是确认利益相关者和系统的需要是否得以确定;二是确定提高现有教育与职业发展项目质量和效率的方法。这种评估方法具有多种益处,因而尤为重要。要开展此类评估,应明确评估目标,建立一个中介组织,注意识别组合不当,合理配置资源,收集评估所需的标准化数据和优化课程设置,并重视相关学习型组织的发展。

Based on the analysis of US Higher Education Assessment,the paper discusses why system-level assessment is needed and how to conduct it. The paper concludes that a system performance assessment consists of two levels of activity,namely,system-level assessment and provider-level assessment. Two main purposes of system-level assessment are：1） to determine whether the stakeholder and system-level needs are being addressed; 2）to identify ways to improve quality and efficiency in present education and professional development programs. The assessment is crucial to higher education. To conduct the assessment needs to keep the goals of assessment in mind,establish an intermediary organization,detect misalignments between customers＇ needs,system-level needs and providers＇ offerings,allocate resources properly,gather standardized data,optimize course design,and attach importance to the relevant learning organizations.