The New York City-based Teagle Foundation has announced $2 million in new grants for thirteen collaborative projects as part of its Outcomes and Assessment Initiative, which promotes institutional and faculty collaboration in order to strengthen teaching and learning, and thereby enrich students' college education.

This round of grants involves faculty from over fifty colleges and universities nationwide. Six of the designated projects will receive $300,000 for use over three years, including "Measuring Intellectual Development and Civic Engagement Through Value-Added Assessment," to be carried out by Augustana College (Illinois), Alma College (Michigan), Gustavus Adolphus College (Minnesota), Illinois Wesleyan University, Luther College (Iowa), and Wittenberg University (Ohio); and "Assessing the Impact of Engaged Learning," Furman University (South Carolina), Austin College (Texas), Juniata College (Pennsylvania), and Washington & Lee University (Virginia).

The foundation also awarded $50,000 for "Next Steps in a National Study of Liberal Arts Education" to the Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts, Wabash College (Indiana), and $25,000 for "Measuring Undergraduate Cognitive Outcomes From a Disciplinary Perspective" to the Center for Assessment of Higher Education at the University of Maryland (College Park). In addition, it awarded planning grants of $25,000 to five collaborative ventures eligible to submit proposals in one year.

"Nothing has the potential to enhance the educational experience as much as a sustained assessment of how and what students learn," said foundation president W. Robert Connor. "Teagle's approach to assessment starts with teachers in the classroom, instead of being driven by pressure from the top down, to create new methods of understanding student engagement. We believe that once this knowledge is applied at other institutions, our work has the potential to far surpass the dollars we have invested."