The Bentley Global Experience Initiative

Since 2009, Bentley University has engaged in assessment of intercultural effectiveness in undergraduate students. The instrument used was the Intercultural Effectiveness Scale, which measures six dimensions using a self-report instrument. The longitudinal data analysis showing results in correlation and causation indicated that while international education experiences have a significant positive effective on Global Mindset, they do not indicate a positive significant effect on other dimensions of intercultural effectiveness (Berdrow, Woolford, Skaletsky, Bird; 2020). In 2018, Bentley University engaged in a curriculum design process to re-envision its undergraduate core curriculum. Taking the opportunity to apply lessons from the assessment of intercultural effectiveness, a component of the new design was the Global Experience. This paper briefly outlines the assessment initiative and the curriculum design outline, with an emphasis on the creation of the Bentley Global Experience Initiative, a comprehensive program supporting faculty and students.

Improving Equity Through National-Level Assessment Initiatives

This chapter investigates how a national-level assessment initiative may improve equity in early years numeracy education, taking the Norwegian mapping tests for primary grades 1–3 as an example. Three assessments, one test for each grade level, were launched in the 2013–2014 school year and have been used every year since. In accordance with Nordic model principles, the test content is available to teachers to ensure familiarity with the test content and the formative use of the assessment outcomes to improve teaching and learning for students identified as at risk of lagging behind. Analysis of student data reveals that, 6 years after the first implementation, no inflation can be seen in test scores. Thus, an exposed assessment may remain robust within an educational system that aspires to transparency, such as the Norwegian one. However, analyses of interview data and achievement data reveal that teachers often struggle to use the assessment outcomes to improve teaching. These results suggest that the initiative to improve equity in primary school numeracy education depends on teachers’ assessment literacy. In accordance with Nordic model principles, schools have significant autonomy and are responsible for identifying professional development needs for their teachers. This research confirms the dilemmas in the Nordic model between national-level and local initiatives and responsibilities.

Connecticut Common Music Assessments

Connecticut’s Common Music Assessment initiative positively impacted music education and, more broadly, arts education. This seven-year project culminated a series of Connecticut State Department of Education initiatives structured around the artistic process model. Teachers from Connecticut and other states formed professional learning communities (PLCs) to create, pilot, and refine standards-based units with embedded performance assessment and benchmarked student work addressing singing, composition, and improvisation. Key elements included an emphasis on student self-assessment and the power of PLCs centered on the examination of student work. These units were adopted or adapted by teachers across the United States and internationally. The initiative fostered a generation of curriculum and assessment leaders, and informed the development of the National Core Arts Standards and Model Cornerstone Assessments (MCAs). The MeasureSuccess.org site developed to facilitate this project and MCA piloting provides a platform for PLCs to engage in transformative processes such as benchmarking, standard-setting, and calibration and to disseminate units/tasks.