The College Portrait Web site is scheduled to launch Monday, Sept. 29, at www.collegeportraits.org. Western’s College Portrait can be viewed at http://collegeportrait.wcu.edu.

The site is a product of the Voluntary System of Accountability project, a partnership between the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, and the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, with funding from Lumina Foundation For Education.

“As a regionally engaged public university, publication of our College Portrait is consistent with our core institutional values of transparency and accountability,” said Melissa Wargo, WCU director of assessment. “We feel strongly that the more comparable information available to students and their parents, the easier it will be for them to find the university that is the best ‘fit.’  And, for many, that best fit will be Western.”

Much of the information contained in the College Portrait is not available to students in any other easily accessible location, particularly information related to student satisfaction, engagement and learning, Wargo said. “Yet, these are the factors that will have the most impact on a student’s college experience,” she said.

Since the project began in November 2007, nearly 60 percent of the 520 member institutions of the two higher education associations have agreed to participate in the project, and 194 have already posted an online portrait, including all 16 institutions in the University of North Carolina system. This represents four-year institutions enrolling some 3 million undergraduates and nearly 60 percent of the total undergraduate enrollment in four-year public colleges and universities.

“No one should be surprised that public higher education has taken the lead on accountability,” said Constantine W. Curris, president of AASCU. “Our institutions have a long history of commitment to public accountability and learning outcomes. College Portrait is being unveiled at a time when severe financial constraints for both families and state governments increase our obligation to provide dependable, accurate information in keeping with our public trust.”

Web site visitors can view a sample portrait, which includes descriptions and explanations of the data contained in each report. An interactive map allows users to easily locate participating colleges by state and includes links to each institution’s portrait, general Web site and an e-mail address to request admissions information.

College Portraits are divided into three sections: Student and Family Information, which addresses issues such as cost of attendance, degree offerings, living arrangements, student characteristics, graduation rates, transfer rates and post-graduate plans; Student Experiences and Perceptions, which provides a snapshot of student experiences and activities, and results from student engagement surveys; and Student Learning Outcomes, which focuses on student learning using either institution-specific outcomes data or a new pilot project to measure student learning gains in critical thinking and written communication.

Western measures student satisfaction and engagement through the National Survey of Student Engagement, and participated in a pilot project of the Collegiate Learning Assessment, which is designed to measure student learning gains in critical thinking, analytical reasoning and written communication. Results from both are included in WCU’s portrait, said Wargo.

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Last modified: Monday, Sept. 29, 2008