A Framework for Measuring Undergraduate Learning and Growth

Abstract

The Postsecondary Value Commission, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and organized by the Institute for Higher Education Policy, commissioned our research group at the University of California, Irvine to articulate a measurement framework based on an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation funded state-of-the-art undergraduate measurement project designed to track undergraduate experiences, trajectories, and outcomes. • Our measurement framework includes six dimensions: (a) cognitive ability and intellectual dispositions, (b) development of identity and adaptive life-course agency, (c) self-regulation skills, (d) social capital, (e) civic engagement, and (f) mental health and psychological flourishing. We discuss these and how they are measured. • We believe that the value of postsecondary education is derived from its relationship not only to a narrow set of skills related to occupational training, but also to broad aspects of human development that include cognitive, psychological, social, and civic characteristics. 52