Executive Summary

Winthrop University’s 1999 General Education Assessment Initiative
College Basic Academic Subjects Examination (BASE): Institutional Matrix Form

Prepared: Spring, 2000

              During the spring and fall of 1999, 455 Winthrop seniors took the Institutional Matrix form of the College BASE national examination as part of Winthrop’s General Education assessment initiative.  Winthrop faculty gave permission for Office of Assessment faculty and staff to administer the Institutional Matrix form of the College BASE during class time.  Winthrop seniors from all four colleges were represented.

            “The College BASE is a criterion-referenced achievement examination that assesses student proficiency in English, Mathematics, Science, and Social studies.  In addition to evaluating academic achievement in these subjects, College BASE gauges cognitive processing skills in three cross-disciplinary competencies: interpretive reasoning, strategic reasoning, and adaptive reasoning.” (College BASE Manual for Examiners and Test Coordinators Institutional Matrix Form. Riverside Publishing Company, @ 1989, p. 1).  Three forms of the College BASE are available: the Long Form, the Short Form, and the Institutional Matrix Form.  Winthrop uses the Institutional Matrix Form in which each student only completes a portion of the total examination.  Thus, students do not receive individual scores.  Rather, Winthrop receives the following aggregate scores: a composite score, subject scores for English, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies, and cluster scores in each subject area.  Clusters for English include Reading/Literature and Writing.  Cluster Scores for Mathematics include General Mathematics, Algebra and Geometry. Cluster scores for Science include Laboratory/Field Work and Fundamental Concepts.  Cluster scores for Social Studies include History and Social Sciences. 

            Winthrop seniors' aggregated mean (315) was higher than the national criterion-based mean of 300.  The possible range of composite scores is 40-560.  In order to determine Winthrop’s relative strengths and weaknesses, the College BASE subject scores were compared (Table 1).  Differences of fewer than 17 points were considered non-significant according to documentation from the Assessment Resource Center (ARC) at the University of Missouri-Columbia which scores the College BASE.  

Subject scores:            Mean*             SD

            Winthrop senior examinees’ subject scores for English, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies did not differ significantly compared to the Winthrop composite score.   The standard deviation of 32 in Science suggests Winthrop examinees varied more in science scores compared to subject scores for English, Mathematics, and Social Studies. 

            Winthrop students scored at or above the national mean for all clusters within the four subject areas (Table 2). Winthrop senior examinees’ mean of 323 for reading/literature suggests that Winthrop seniors performed significantly higher than the national College BASE mean of 300 in this area. Winthrop senior examinees’ writing score of (297) suggests that Winthrop students demonstrated average performance in their writing skills compared to the national College BASE mean.

Subject Clusters                     Mean           SD        68% Scored between          

              Winthrop cluster means for Mathematics, Science and Social Studies were not significantly different from Winthrop’s composite score of 315 nor the College Base mean of 300.  The Science laboratory and field work cluster score of 314 for Winthrop examinees is above the national mean of 300. The standard deviation of 38 for the science cluster, laboratory and field work, reflects the greatest variability in Winthrop examinee cluster scores. The standard deviation provides a range within which approximately 68 percent of Winthrop seniors scored.

            The College BASE also yields competency scores that represent examinees’ abilities in the cross-disciplinary processes of interpretive, strategic, and adaptive reasoning.  Competency scores are reported as high, medium, or low. One hundred percent of Winthrop examinees scored medium to high for interpretive and strategic reasoning.  Ninety-three percent of Winthrop examinees scored medium to high for adaptive reasoning. 

            Comparisons were made between Winthrop senior cohort scores for the 1999 College BASE and those obtained for 1990-1991, 1992-1993, 1994-1995 cohorts (Table 3).

As can be seen, English scores for the senior cohort increased steadily and significantly from 1990-1991 to present.  Mathematics scores have changed little from previous years.  Science scores increased in the 1999 assessment after having decreased during the 1992-1993 and the 1994-1995 assessments.  Social Studies scores for 1999 cohort dropped slightly compared to the 1994-1995 cohort but remained above the national mean.  Finally, composite scores have increased each year Winthrop Senior examinees completed the institutional matrix form of the College BASE.