David Paris, the Leonard C. Ferguson Professor of Government at Hamilton, was quoted in an InsideHigherEd article, "Spreading the Gospel on Student Learning," about a meeting of researchers, foundation leaders and association presidents who are true believers in the value of assessing the quality of student learning in liberal education. According to InsideHigherEd, they gathered together "with two key purposes: to figure out how they themselves can better do what they're already doing and to develop ideas for spreading the gospel to others." The conference was sponsored by the Teagle and Spencer Foundations.
Paris is a consultant for Teagle and is leading the foundation's efforts in this area. He explained that the ultimate goal is "being able within the next 3-5 years to say confidently to the public and public officials we have engaged in systematic and even systemic improvement," not only among the "true believers" at the Teagle meeting "but across the country." That could be accomplished in large part, Paris suggested, by "harvesting ... some of the 1,000 flowers" now being nurtured on individual campuses.
Paris is a consultant for Teagle and is leading the foundation's efforts in this area. He explained that the ultimate goal is "being able within the next 3-5 years to say confidently to the public and public officials we have engaged in systematic and even systemic improvement," not only among the "true believers" at the Teagle meeting "but across the country." That could be accomplished in large part, Paris suggested, by "harvesting ... some of the 1,000 flowers" now being nurtured on individual campuses.
