Reframing Assessment to Center Equity: Theories, Models, and Practices

There is hardly a more widely discussed higher education topic than diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) right now, but assessment of student learning is not often part of that discussion. It should be. The field of assessment has much to offer in terms of moving toward more equitable campuses. Reframing Assessment to Center Equity: Theories, Models, and Practices (2022) is a must-read on this topic, bringing together this important higher education topic and the field of assessment. Novice and experienced faculty and leadership working on assessment within departments, assessment professionals, and university leaders would have their work informed by this book.This edited collection organizes 19 essays into categories to move the reader through the process of reframing assessment. The four organizing categories, in order, are “Why?,” “What?,” “How?,” and “Now What?”Chapter 2 (“The Assessment Activist: A revolutionary Call to Action”) in the “Why?” section calls on assessment professionals to be activists in the area of equity on their campuses and in the higher education landscape. Bheda’s piece makes a compelling argument connecting social justice to assessment practice. She then describes individual actions assessment professionals can take to help bring about equity through assessment. One such example involved tackling more authentic evaluations of climate surveys with low response rates. Jankowski and Lundquist close out the “Why?” section with chapter 3 (“Equity and Assessment: A Storied Past”), addressing the complicated, and not always favorable, history of the intersection of equity and assessment. Practitioners can benefit greatly from this context.The “What?” section moves to a discussion of current trends in the field of assessment and equity. Chapter 6 (“Models and Approaches to Increasing Equity in Higher Education”) by Singer-Freeman, Bastone, and Montenegro gives a thorough overview of potential means to “inform efforts to increase equity in higher education assessment” (97). The chapter ends with several useful guiding principles. The last of these principles is that assessment professionals can’t do this work alone, serving as a good reminder that DEI work needs to be a collaborative process.The longest and most compelling section of the book is the “How?” section, offering nine chapters with various approaches and examples of doing this important work. Practitioners may be tempted to skip right to this section even though the groundwork laid out in the two previous sections is quite helpful to understanding the field as a whole. The diversity of approaches and perspectives in the third section is admirable, with chapters addressing HBCUs, STEM fields, community colleges, student affairs, cultural relevance, and the inclusion of student voices in the assessment process. Chapter 9 (“Culturally Relevant Assessment”) by Hobbs and Robinson is a meaningful look at considering assignment types through an equity lens. Chapter 10 (“Centering ‘Āina in Assessment”) reemphasizes the social justice aspect of this work previously introduced in the “Why?” section. Equity in STEM fields has long been of concern, and chapter 14 (“Assessing Equitable Access to STEM Fields of Study”) by Dowd, Oseguera, and Johnson illustrates how critical assessment, described as self-study and developmental evaluation concerned with social justice issues, can be performed collaboratively to focus on racial equity.The final section is “Now What?” Its forward-thinking approach is hopeful and empowering to practitioners with an effort to address higher education assessment professionals at various stages of their respective careers. Chapter 18 (“Developing Individual Awareness”) by Acheampong, Ludvik, and Lundquist provides a bookend to Bheda’s chapter in the opening section by calling on readers to be intentional about equity. Chapter 19 (“An Invitation to a Beginning Rather Than the End”) closes the book and engages in the all-important “Where do we go from here?” discussion. The authors encourage readers to find the places they do have power to make small changes and to look for various forms of power they may hold even if they lack authority in their institutions.Throughout the book, the editors provide a balance of authors focusing on individual and collaborative work as well as on the individual institution and the wider arena of higher education as a whole. More attention could have been paid to faculty development regarding the topic of equity and assessment, given the emphasis on the need to be open and collaborative in this work. Overall, this book provides a detailed and hopeful overview of the history of the field as well as the challenges and opportunities to engage in the work of bringing about equity through higher education assessment practice.