Outcomes-based assessment in engineering education: A critique of its foundations and practice

In the ten or so years since ABET EC2000 and the ldquonewrdquo way of thinking about accreditation were announced, engineering educators internationally have labored dutifully with the difficult, time-consuming and perplexing demands of outcome-based assessment. Without question, ABET EC2000 has captured the attention of engineering administrators and faculty, but it has also dramatically increased the effort required to sustain accreditation in engineering. This essay critically examines key assumptions behind the outcomes-based assessment (OBA) philosophy on which ABET EC2000 is based, and proposes that perhaps as much as engineering education practices, assessment practices should be the subject of assessment and evaluation.