Charge

General responsibility for the oversight of the assessment of student learning at Gettysburg College is vested in the Committee on Learning Assessment (COLA). Reporting to the Provost, and through the Provost to the President, the Committee has responsibility for both the implementation and periodic review of the Gettysburg College Assessment Plan for Learning Outcomes, for the coordination of the assessment activities that the Plan commissions, and for the approval of co-curricular learning goals proposed by CLAG.

Specific Responsibilities

• Monitoring and coordinating all learning assessment activities in compliance with the Plan, by reviewing the goals, means of assessment, and results for each level, while keeping thought for the quality and integrity of the assessment process.
• Conducting the assessment of specific overarching general education learning goals.
• Creating and supporting a "culture of assessment" at the College, by establishing policies related to the publication of assessment results; fostering the sharing of practices and data; encouraging the use of assessment results in the reform of practice; supporting assessment training; and establishing and maintaining a website for assessment activities, policies, and results at Gettysburg College.
• Reporting learning outcomes to the President as the key component of the overall assessment of Gettysburg College's institutional effectiveness.

• Regularly reviewing, emending, and implementing the Plan; and monitoring the relationship of this institutional plan to the evolving standards for assessment of the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.

Members (2012-2013)

Suhua Dong, Gavin Foster, Jeff Foster, Barbara Fritze, Rose A. Kane (student representative), Benjamin Kennedy, Russell McCutcheon, Julie Ramsey, Richard Russell, Jack Ryan(Chair), Christopher Zappe, Qin Zhang

Former COLA Members

Resources: Guidelines developed by Middle States Commission on Higher Education

• Student Learning Assessment Handbook
• Assessing Student Learning and Institutional Effectiveness: Understanding Middle States Expectations
• Characteristics of Excellence in Higher Education: Eligibility Requirements and Standards for Accreditation (2006) (Standard 14: Assessment of Student Learning)