Assessment during a Crisis: Responding to a Global Pandemic

In March 2020, institutions abruptly pivoted to remote instruction, sending students, faculty, and staff away from college campuses in response to COVID-19. In June 2020, the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA) launched a survey to capture a snapshot of assessment-related changes made during Spring 2020 in response to the sudden shift to remote instruction and to help determine remaining professional development needs. The brief questionnaire focused on changes that were made, potential impacts of those changes on assessment culture, and the role student voice and equity concerns did or did not play in Spring decisions. This report provides an overview of findings from the survey; couples those findings with other reports released from March through July; and provides guidance in the form of "do's" and "do not's" for higher education and the field of assessment--looking beyond Fall 2020 toward what needs to be done.