Joel Frederickson

The colleges that have been using the CLA for multiple years as part of the CIC consortium generally offered a mixed review of their experiences with the exam so far. (The CIC released a full report on the results of the CIC consortium to date, which offers a portrait balanced with pros and cons.) Joel Frederickson, professor and chair of psychology and acting associate dean for institutional assessment at Bethel University, in Minnesota, said the institution had felt pressure from its regional accreditor to measure student learning, and that, at core, "what [the CLA] measures is what's important" for a Christian liberal arts college like Bethel -- critical thinking, written communication, problem solving and analytical reasoning.

But officials there have grown concerned about the great variability in results from year to year, an outcome that the CLA's critics say is not surprising given that most colleges give the test to just 100 students each year (because it is expensive). "The first year, we looked great, another year, so so," said Frederickson. "Another year, the results look horrible, like we're not adding any value. That's a difficult memo to send out" to faculty and staff.

The question of whether a college appears to have added value under the CLA model is complicated by the fact that the standard way of measuring that is by comparing a group of first-year students with a group of graduating seniors. But Bethel has found that "our freshmen seem to be very motivated when they take this," and "if your freshmen do really well, it's a big problem in value added," Frederickson said.

Brenita Nicholas, Associate Professor of Social Work, Mount Vernon Nazarene University; and Joel Frederickson, Professor of Psychology, Bethel University

Joel Frederickson, Professor of Psychology & Assistant Dean for Institutional Assessment

Integrating our Faith, our Work, and our Personal Life: Stacey Hunter Hecht, associate professor of political science; Joel Frederickson, professor of psychology, assistant dean of assessment"I was struck by the diversity among the new faculty," says Dave Claborn, assistant professor of political science & history, Olivet Nazarene University (IL).

Strategies for engaging members of the faculty were shared by Joel Frederickson, assistant dean of institutional assessment at Bethel University (MN), and Brandon Claycomb, chair of the arts and humanities division at Marian College (WI).

Panelists (l-r) Paul Presson of Westminster College (UT), Marian Sherwood of Allegheny College (PA), and Joel Frederickson of Bethel University (MN) shared their experiences with the CLA.
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Joel Frederickson, professor and assistant dean for assessment, Bethel University (MN); Paul Presson, associate provost for assessment, Westminster College (UT); and Marian Sherwood, director of institutional research at Allegheny College (PA) stressed the importance of securing student and faculty involvement in order to establish integrity and gain momentum.

Joel Frederickson, Acting Associate Dean of Institutional Assessment and Accreditation, Bethel University