Institute/Session Summary:

The purpose of this presentation is to reveal to CRLA members and other interested participants the new learning center standards developed with the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education. First, though, must come an explanation of CAS itself. Because the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education arose from an affiliation among student affairs programs in higher education, its work – indeed, its existence – is not well known among faculty in academic affairs divisions. Printed information and CAS links will be provided.

The setting of shared professional standards is critically important to the standing of learning assistance programs in higher education, and the development of revised standards for learning assistance programs provides a unique opportunity to review the goals as well as the methods of our enterprise. Revision of the LAP standards began first with revision of the Contextual Statement in 2005-6 by a small CRLA committee under the leadership of CRLA’s ten-year director on the Council, Becky Johnen. The standards themselves were revised by an expanded committee in 2006 and 2007 – and in fact are still in the process of revision. After approval of the new LAP standards by the CAS committee charged with their review, CRLA will help disseminate the standards and advocate for their use by learning assistance professionals.

Self-Assessment Guides are used to evaluate learning assistance programs in each of the 13 areas for which CAS sets standards:

1. mission
2. program
3. leadership
4. organization and management
5. human resources
6. financial resources
7. facilities and equipment
8. legal responsibilities
9. equity and access
10. campus and external relations
11. diversity
12. ethics
13. assessment and evaluation

Copies of the 2003 standards and the 2007 revised standards will be provided at the presentation.

A topic of particular discussion among members of CRLA’s standards revision committee has been the list of student learning and development outcomes in the 2003 statement of standards. “The LAP must provide evidence of its impact on the achievement of student learning and development outcomes” -- but what should those outcomes be for each of our learning centers? Session participants will work together to winnow the current learning and development outcomes and develop a focused list of outcomes for our own programs.

The final activity of this presentation will be to consider implications of the new standards for assessing the strengths and deficiencies of our own learning centers and evaluating our programs. One of the presenters with expertise in program evaluation will lead a discussion analyzing the benefits of the cleaner, clearer 2007 standards as well as the work remaining to be done.

Presenter Norton, who served briefly as CRLA’s CAS Representative and attended the Fall 2006 CAS research conference, has much experience in applying CAS and NADE standards in program evaluation. Presenter Agee has been involved in review of the standards since the 1980’s was recently named CRLA’s representative to CAS.

Presenter1 Name: Karen Agee
Presenter1 Institution: University of Northern Iowa
Presenter1 Bio: Since 1984 Karen has taught students at the University of Northern Iowa the “joy of purposeful reading and learning” through no-credit courses (Speed Reading and Effective Study Strategies), individual tutorials and consultations, and workshops. Karen coordinates the Peer Instructors who also teach the SR and ESS courses, lead study groups, and staff UNI’s Ask-a-Tutor program.
UNI students may take short, no-credit courses to prepare for the PPST (Reading and Mathematics) and GRE (Verbal and Quantitative). Students may work individually with Karen to prepare for the MCAT, DAT, OAT (Verbal Reasoning), GMAT (Verbal and Quantitative), and other standardized exams.
Karen earned BA and MA degrees in Classical Languages and Literatures from Indiana University and a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction (Reading Education) from New Mexico State University. She serves as the campus reading and learning coordinator, with current research interest in student reading behaviors and motivations.

Presenter2 Name: Jan Norton
Presenter2 Institution: University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh
Presenter2 Bio: Jan Norton directs the Center for Academic Resources at UW Oshkosh; her M.A. is in Educational Research & Psychology. Jan has led two CRLA SIGs (Learning Assistance Center Management and Research & Evaluation), reviews program certification applications for NADE, and serves as an evaluation consultant for learning centers.