A Snapshot of Needed Skills and Dispositions through the Lens of Assessment Professionals in Higher Education: Findings from a National Survey.

What skills and dispositions are most important for higher education assessment professionals to be successful in their work? Emerging professionals and their instructors must be cognizant of what skills and dispositions are necessary in order to be adequately prepared for this work. Utilizing a survey instrument that was developed based on recent research and validated by a panel of experts in higher education assessment, we surveyed 213 higher education assessment professionals from across the United States, assessing their perceptions on the importance of 92 skills and 52 dispositions. We analyzed responses by utilizing descriptive statistics for closed-ended items and thematic analysis of open-ended items. A discussion of the findings, including what skills and dispositions were deemed most important, as well as implications for future research and professional identity are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]