Assessment Primer: Goals, Objectives and Outcomes

The assessment literature is full of terminology such as “mission”, “goals”, “objectives”, “outcomes”, etc. but lacking in a consensus on a precise meaning of each of these terms.  Part of the difficulty stems from changes in approaches to education – shifts from objective-based, to competency-based, to outcomes-based, etc. education have taken place over the years with various champions of each espousing the benefits of using a different point of view.  The Outcomes Pyramid shown below presents a pictorial clarification of the hierarchical relationships among several different kinds of goals, objectives, and outcomes that appear in assessment literature.

The ‘pyramid’ image is chosen to convey the fact that increasing complexity and level of specificity are encountered as one moves downward.  The pyramid structure also reinforces the notion that learning flows from the mission of the institution down to the units of instruction.