NEW DIRECTIONS FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING, no. 123, Fall 2010 © Wiley Periodicals, Inc. View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com. • DOI: 10.1002/tl.408 5 Assessing Learning: From Accountability to Transformation Catherine M. Wehlburg How do we know that learning has occurred? The simple answer is that we look to see if there has been some type of change in what a student can do. Evaluation of learning, in practice, however, is much more complex. Learn- ing isn’t always a clearly defined change in behavior. In some areas of learn- ing we can look for this behavior change: a student cannot read the word book, but after several trials and attempts for which he or she gets feedback, the student now can. But as we move into higher education and more com- plex levels of learning, measuring learning isn’t easy. And it doesn’t always occur within the classroom context. Over time, how higher education has viewed evaluation, teaching, learning, and assessment has varied dramatically. Historical Approaches to Assessing Learning In the nineteenth century, students had to show to the public that they had actually learned what they were supposed to have learned. “A candidate for the bachelor’s, therefore, faced a final hurdle of the senior declamation . . . often these examinations were conducted orally, by and before outsid- ers” (Hutchings and Marchese, 1990, p. 27). As Hutchings and Marchese point out, separating teaching from the evaluation of learning was impor- tant. The results of learning were something that should be demonstrated to others. And, as a student was able to demonstrate a certain amount of learning, he (and it was typically a “he”) was considered to be educated and 45 Assessing learning in higher education can be a very difficult task. There are some differences, however, when assessing for account- ability to others and assessing for transformation. These distinc- tions are embedded in our historical understanding of teaching and learning.