The Reality of Assessment in Business Schools

Abstract

Bacon and Stewart (2016) argue that assurance of learning efforts in most business schools are largely futile-a stance held by many faculty members, for a variety of reasons. The authors provide detailed evidence that most schools' data collection efforts for assessment, particularly in graduate or niche programs, will suffer from insufficient statistical power due to small student numbers. They propose that business schools seek an alternative approach for conducting learning assessment that encourages a deep dive into existing pedagogical research and, depending on program size, employ qualitative methods in assessment of student learning. Why Assessment Doesn't Work at Many Business Schools The Bacon and Stewart (2016) article provides useful evidence for business school faculty, administrators, and staff who question the value of current