UNO tops nation in adding value
Mark Patel
Issue date: 8/25/08 Section: News
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"The CLA purports to measure value-added at an institution, and for this test, for this measure, for this year, we finished at the top of the list," said Steven Bullock, interim assistant vice chancellor for academic affairs.
The online exam was administered by UNO officials to a randomly selected group of 225 freshmen and 100 seniors over the course of last year.
Student performance on the exam when they came to UNO was at the 9th percentile, Bullock said. By the time they left, it was at the 86th percentile - the highest growth of any university.
"I think it presents us in a very positive light and justifiably so," Bullock said. "Our faculty are truly outstanding when it comes to teaching, and we take teaching very seriously, we take pride in our teaching, and this is a testament to that."
Academic help services around campus ensure that students realize their full potential.
"The Writing Center, the Speech Center, the Math-Science Learning Center - they're addressing the needs of hundreds of students and they seem to be doing so very effectively," Bullock said. "So I think that's a big part of it."
This is the first time UNO participated in the test conceived by the Council for Aid to Education, a privately funded organization whose benefactors include Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Ford Foundation.
Each student is assigned an "expected" CLA score based on their ACT score.
"Our freshman did not do as well as their ACT might indicate on the CLA," Bullock said.
On the other hand, the seniors over-performed compared to their ACT.
The CAE sends the grades for each section and subsection of the exam to the university to help identify students' academic needs.
"They really encourage institutions to use them primarily for internal purpose; we just see this as an additional tool in looking at how our students are doing," Bullock said.
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