Finney speaks at alma mater

By: Department of Graduate Psychology

Sara Finney, professor of graduate psychology and associate director of CARS at JMU; Kurt Geisinger, director of the Buros Center for Testing at UNL; Laine Bradshaw, professor at University of Georgia, and co-presenter on panel.

Sara Finney was invited to the University of Nebraska, her alma mater, to speak with the faculty and students of the Quantitative, Qualitative, and Psychometric Methods (QQPM) graduate programs and staff from the Buros Center for Testing. During her talk, titled “Designing Assessment Programs that Support Data Use”, Finney articulated how higher education institutions are required to assess their impact on student learning and development. These accountability mandates have resulted in university faculty and staff assessing student learning outcomes for accreditation purposes. However, the ultimate goal of outcomes assessment (to improve programming and in turn student learning) is often forgotten, ignored, or deemed too difficult. Research shows that although institutions are engaging in assessment, they have little evidence of improved student performance. Finney discussed how a team of measurement specialists at the Center for Assessment & Research Studies and graduate students from the Assessment & Measurement Ph.D. program at James Madison University are confronting this problem. She discussed assessment and administration processes that encourage faculty, student affairs professionals, upper administration, curriculum experts, and assessment specialists to collaborate with the goal of enhancing student learning.