About / Partners
In good company
Student Learning Outcomes assessment is a national conversation. These organizations do work that sits alongside ours, and we encourage every COACHes member to know them.
COACHes brings assessment coordinators together around one idea: learning is observable, and the evidence of it is a product or behavior we can describe, collect, and discuss. No single organization carries that work alone. The groups below support assessment professionals through conferences, research, publications, and professional community, and each one offers something our members can use.
Partner organizations
Professional association
Student Affairs Assessment Leaders (SAAL)
A volunteer-led nonprofit for the educators who coordinate assessment in divisions of student affairs. SAAL offers an open online course on assessment, a members’ listserv, a shared resource repository, and the Journal of Student Affairs Inquiry, Improvement, and Impact.
Why it matters: Learning does not stop at the classroom door. SAAL is where co-curricular assessment practice is shared and refined.
National initiative
Grand Challenges for Assessment in Higher Education
A collaborative effort endorsed by ten higher education organizations, with more than 400 assessment professionals, faculty, and students contributing. The initiative builds national strategic plans and evidence-informed, practical solutions to the most pressing challenges in the field.
Why it matters: It names the field’s hardest problems out loud and organizes people across institutions to work on them together.
Conference and publications
Assessment Institute in Indianapolis
Hosted by Indiana University Indianapolis, the Assessment Institute is the nation’s oldest and largest event focused on assessing and improving higher education. It also publishes Assessment Update, runs free webinars throughout the year, and produces the Leading Improvements in Higher Education podcast.
Why it matters: For many assessment professionals, the Institute is the annual gathering place of the field, from first-year coordinators to national leaders.
Should your organization be here? If your group supports Student Learning Outcomes assessment and would like to connect with the COACHes community, we would like to hear from you.