The Committee on Assessment for Student Achievement (CASA) is a community of educators concerned with the promotion and frequent use of simple, in-class assessment techniques.  Continuous assessment is key to improving teaching and learning, as it helps students learn how they are doing in time for them to try to do better, and informs educators when a change in approach or increased focus is needed.  Results as offered by SENCER faculty demonstrate the effectiveness of such assessments.  They report: (1) a reduction of the incidence of C and D quality work, (2) an improvement in persistence (reducing drop outs), (3) the enabling the study of more difficult materials, and (4) a reduction in time spent lecturing. 

CASA is coordinated by Terry McGuire and Jeannette Haviland-Jones, both of Rutgers University.  Members, who are volunteers from colleges and universities throughout the country, collect and screen examples of formative assessment techniques from a wide variety of disciplines.  Their goal is to create a growing collection of examples that cover diverse civic issues and course content, have relevance to as many learning styles/goals and levels of courses as possible, and are sensitive and specific to the needs of all educational sectors.  The resource collection will be published online on a periodic basis and incorporated into the SENCER Digital Library.

If you are interested in learning more about CASA or joining the committee, please contact one of the coordinators. 

Jeannette Haviland-Jones, baljones@rci.rutgers.edu

Professor of Psychology, Rutgers University

Terry McGuire, mcguire@biology.rutgers.edu

Professor of Genetics, Rutgers University