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VSA UPDATEThe Next Generation of the College Portrait

Presentation by William E. KirwanUSM Chancellor

Association of Governing BoardsSunday, April 19, 2009

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Voluntary System of Accountability (VSA)

• Initiative by public 4-year universities to supply

basic, comparable information on the undergraduate

student experience to important constituencies

through a common web report - the “College Portrait”

• Sponsored by AASCU & NASULGC

• Funding from Lumina

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Goals of VSA

• Demonstrate accountability and stewardship to public

• Assemble information that is – transparent

– comparable

– understandable

• Measure educational outcomes to identify and enhance effective educational practices

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VSA Participation

• 320 institutions from 49 states and Puerto Rico

– As of April 2, 2009

• 61 percent of 520 NASULGC & AASCU institutions

• More than 225 College Portraits posted on

www.collegeportraits.org

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College Portrait

• Student & Family Information– student/campus characteristics– cost of attendance– success/progress rate

• Student Experiences & Perceptions– group learning / active learning– interaction with faculty– institutional commitment– diversity experiences– student satisfaction

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College Portrait

• Student Learning Outcomes

– Pilot project to measure learning gains in critical thinking,

analytic reasoning, written communication at institution level

– Measured and reported in a standard way using either CAAP,

CLA, MAPP

– Learning gains (value-added) are the difference between

actual and expected scores of graduating and entering

students after controlling for academic ability

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Comparison not Ranking

• Public presentation of common data for users to easily access and compare info

• Breadth and variety of data so users can focus on elements important to them

• Policy Statement of VSA Board on appropriate use of VSA data “vigorously oppose any ranking scheme”

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Demand for Learning Outcomes

• Not a fad but reasonable response to changing

information needs

– Learning outcomes reporting has bipartisan support in

Congress

– Intervention from associations prevented mandate in

Higher Education Opportunity Act

– Bologna Process

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College Portrait Display

• College Portraits (CP) hosted on central website

– Compatible with assistive technology

– Users can search by state/institution

– Users can directly contact institutions

– Ability to track user traffic

• Institutions continue to place CP Logo on website

with direct link to own CP

www.collegeportraits.org

University Contact Info

Link to CP

Link to University website

Send email to Admissions

Links to specific data elements

University & Community info

on first page

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College Portrait Application

• Web-based data entry

• Benefits & Features:

- Standard professional display

- More robust creation process

- Error checks/data validation

- Individual institution access, user account mgt

- Upload of selected data

Administrative Home Page

Access to Data Entry Pages

Upload XLS & NSC files

User Permissions

2 user role options

Control access to sections/functions

Previewing Pages

After validating data preview link will appear

at top of page

show

Initial preview displays first page of section

Click on menu links to view other validated pages

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Support Resources

• VSA website, participant only area

- Archived introductory webinar

- Administrative Guide

• Within CP Application

- In context HELP text

- Administrative Guide

• Support Team: support@collegeportraits.org

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Application Work in Progress

• Improved formatting for print versions - Preview- Published

• Email distribution list

• More “information request” elements

• Interactive help for users

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Upcoming Events

• Integrate VSA Cost Calculator within CP application

- Beta testing in Summer 09

- Released in early Fall 09 (tentative)

• Learning Outcomes Seminars

- Summer 2009: Focus on administration of tests

- Summer 2010: Focus on application of results

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Timelines

• April 17 (extended): Deadline for posting CP with Fall 2008 CDS data

• Summer 2009: Update Future Plans, Cost of Attendance as appropriate

• Fall 2009: release of integrated VSA cost calculator

• October/November 2009: Submit Fall 2003 NSC cohorts

• January/February 2010: Release of CP, v4