Value added has emerged as a hot-button topic in the assessment literature, due in large part to the Commission on the Future of Higher Education. Value added, as conceptualized by Astin (1985), reflects talent development, "changes in the student from the beginning to the end of an educational program. These changes can cover a wide range of…

Describes Probability of Adoption of Change (PAC) model, theoretical paradigm for explaining likelihood of successful adoption of planned change initiatives in student affairs. Reports on PAC construct reliability from survey of 62 Chief Student Affairs Officers. Discusses two refinements to the model: merger of leadership and top level support…

Explanations for an observed change in Rasch item parameters ("b" values) from consecutive administrations of a professional licensing examination were investigated. Analysis of covariance indicated that the change was not related to item position or type. It is hypothesized that the change is attributable to shifts in curriculum…

The writer calls attention to the many traps associated with one of the most frequent uses of assessment: the technical difficulties of measuring changes in learning over time. Noting that psychometricians don't like "change" or "difference" scores in statistical analyses because they tend to have lower reliability than the original measures…