The State Council for Higher Education in Virginia released a report yesterday detailing the writing and technology competency of students in Virginia's public institutions of higher education.
University of Virginia students fared well in both assessments, receiving particularly high scores in technology.
University faculty determined criteria for both technology and writing competency as well as the evaluation methodology for University students.
Ninety percent of a random sampling of non-engineering students demonstrated strong competency with computer skills.
Writing competency was evaluated in the College and in the Engineering School.
On a four-point scale, ranging from "strong competence" to "incompetent or occasional competence," 29 percent of College writing samples received the highest mark, a four, 55 percent received a score of three, 15 percent received a score of two and one portfolio received a one.
In the Engineering School, 42 percent of the writing samples received a score of four, 54 percent received a score of three, and 4 percent received a score of two.
The slight disparity in writing scores between College and Engineering students may be attributed to the population from which each school pulled its writing samples.
While the Engineering writing samples were taken from the theses of fourth years, writing samples from the College were drawn from ENWR 105/106 and ENWR 110, the writing course required for first years, who may not have had sufficient time and instruction to absorb proper writing techniques.
SCHEV's Academic Affairs Director, Nancy Cooley, said that other schools have attempted to demonstrate their institution's educational effectiveness by administering assessments before entrance and then during fourth year.
"Clearly that's a more effective strategy for those institutions that admit a lower level of students," Cooley said.
Demonstrating educational effectiveness is difficult for institutions such as the University, which typically admit students who are at high academic levels before they matriculate, Cooley said.
"It's harder to show effectiveness the higher you go," she added.
Lonnie Schaffer, SCHEV Sr. Associate for Academic Affairs, said they acknowledge each institution's right to determine their own testing methods.
"One thing that is important to note about Virginia's assessment of competencies is that we respect the autonomy of institutions," she said.
Schaffer said that SCHEV's role is to work with each institution in determining if their evaluations are accurate.
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