474 Undergraduate Education
psychology courses and then to evaluate that learning has been
manifested throughout the twentieth century. For most of the
century, this need derived from psychologists’ scientific cu-
riosity and values as well as their penchant for testing and eval-
uating programs. Psychologists evaluated vocabulary terms
elementary psychology students needed to know (Jensen,
1933; Thornton & Thornton, 1942) and a more comprehensive
“psychological literacy” for the entire major (Boneau, 1990).
Almost 50 years before the current assessment mandates, the
APA’s Council of Representatives charged a “Committee on
the Preparation of Examination Questions in Psychology”
(1941): “(1) to explore the need and desire for comprehensive
examinations in psychology, and (2) to find out the extent to
which questions or items now exist that may be drawn upon in
constructing comprehensive examinations” (p. 838). Seventy
percent of the 411 respondents to a survey from this committee
favored such an effort, and almost 50% reported that they
would use such examinations in their programs.
Since the mid-1980s, the external forces of regional ac-
crediting associations and state legislatures have demanded
that all departments and campuses participate in regular self-
studies, a major component of which is the assessment of
student learning outcomes. Halpern et al. (1993) offered a
comprehensive outcomes assessment program for psychol-
ogy. They described the external forces calling for such ef-
forts and suggested that psychologists possess unique skills
for evaluating educational outcomes. They argued that the
desired outcomes for undergraduate psychology included a
knowledge base(e.g., content areas, methods, theory, and
history);intellectual skills(e.g., thinking, communication,
information gathering and synthesis skills, and quantitative,
scientific and technological skills); and personal characteris-
tics (e.g., interpersonal and intrapersonal skills, motiva-
tion, ethics, and sensitivity to people and cultures). The
authors advocated a multimethod matrix approach, including
archival forms of assessment data, classroom assessment,
standardized testing, course-embedded assessment, portfolio
analysis, interviews, external examiners, performance-based
assessment strategies, and assessment of critical thinking.
Since the St. Mary’s Conference, articles regularly ap-
peared demonstrating how departments used this Halpern
et al. (1993) blueprint for assessment activities. The Quality
Principles(McGovern & Reich, 1996), endorsed as APA pol-
icy, included this statement:
Faculty establish mechanisms to assess the curriculum. Essential
elements of an assessment program includea.clearly stated and achievable outcomes for the curriculum
and other program-related experiences.b.multiple measures of students’ learning.
c. planned opportunities for systematic feedback to students on
their progress.
d.specific plans to use data assessment to improve individual
course instruction and the overall curriculum.
e. opportunities to communicate assessment results to multiple
constituencies of undergraduate psychology. (p. 255)In the next section, we focus on service—how psycholo-
gists, through their communications and activities with one
another at national and regional meetings—achieved greater
sophistication and effectiveness in their pedagogy and a dis-
tinctive disciplinary character for our undergraduate acade-
mic programs.SERVICEA consistent problem was evident for most of the twentieth
century:What has been the result, after 30 years, of the 1951 recommen-
dation that we give primary emphasis, in the undergraduate cur-
riculum, to the contribution psychology can make to a liberal
education, to Renaissance persons? Few contemporary psychol-
ogists, beyond those actively involved in the conferences or in
national committees explicitly charged with undergraduate edu-
cation, have an awareness that the conferences were even held,
let alone awareness of the recommendations made. A major chal-
lenge for undergraduate education in the next decade is to involve
a greater proportion of leading psychologists in discussion of
the issues in developing and maintaining effective undergraduate
education in a rapidly changing environment. (Fretz, 1982, p. 55)Fretz’s observation in a special issue on curriculum of the
journalTeaching of Psychologyshould not be limited just
to one historical period; recall similar comments made by
E. C. Sanford (1910) and Wolfle (1942). However, in the last
decades of the twentieth century, there has been ample evi-
dence that a “greater proportion of leading psychologists”
have become involved in networks of service activities in be-
half of undergraduate education.
InTeaching Psychology in America: A History(Puente,
Matthews, & Brewer, 1992), numerous authors documented
how organized groups advanced the teaching and scholarship
of the discipline via service activities at the regional, state,
and national levels. We urge the reader to review other his-
torical analyses to appreciate more fully how the teaching of
psychology was portrayed in psychological journals (Beins,
1992), in undergraduate textbooks (Morawski, 1992; Weiten
& Wight, 1992) and handbooks (Pate, 1992), or in experi-
mental laboratories (Benjamin, 2000; Capshew, 1992).