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This study proposes a curriculum analytics approach using psychometric modelling and learning analytics to infer patterns of standards acquisition, scalable and automated, and supportive of GPA alongside standards-based profiles.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/assessing-patterns-of-students-attainment-of-professional-standards-in-higher-education-608574/608574/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/assessing-patterns-of-students-attainment-of-professional-standards-in-higher-education-608574/608574.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Aria Callaghan","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-03","2026-10-17",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",6,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"Why do current higher education assessments often fail to evaluate professional competency effectively?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"They tend to focus on content-based knowledge rather than assessing professionally regulated standards and readiness for employment in a holistic way.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"What is the core contribution of this study?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"It introduces a curriculum analytics method that maps existing assessment grades to professional standards, using psychometric modelling and learning analytics.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"How does the proposed approach support stakeholders beyond traditional academic success metrics?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"It enables scalable, automated inference of standards attainment and generates standards-based profiles that help identify curriculum improvement areas and tailor student support.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},608574,1792879054,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,96,101,105,110,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":97,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":106,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},8,30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":131},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":111,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145},962084926284,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_29158cc5080c5b710cf443261637dec0","Volume 13(1), 42–56 . [https://doi.org/10.18608/jla.2026.9035](https://doi.org/10.18608/jla.2026.9035)  \nAssessing Patterns of Students’ Attainment of Professional Standards in Higher Education  \nAbhinava Barthakur1 , Jelena Jovanović2 , Ryan Baker3 , Vitomir Kovanović4 , Christopher Charles Deneen5 and Shane Dawson6  \nAbstract  \nIt is widely recognized that higher education (HE) graduates require a broad range of professional skills and abilities to succeed in their future careers. However, despite this acknowledgement, assessment practices in HE remain focused on content-based knowledge. This narrow emphasis limits the capacity to effectively and holistically evaluate a student’s professional competency and readiness for employment. This issue is particularly acute for HE degrees that require graduates to demonstrate attainment of externally regulated professional standards. While the curricula are mapped to professional standards for accreditation purposes, demonstrating a student’s attainment of these standards is not straightforward and has mostly been done through self-reported surveys. This study offers a novel curriculum analytics method for mapping assessment grades to the attainment of professional standards across a Teacher Education program. Specifically, we present an approach that uses psychometric modelling and learning analytics to identify distinct patterns in learners’ acquisition of professional standards. This method does not alter current assessment practices in HE. Instead, the approach offers a scalable , automated means to infer a learner’s attainment of documented professional standards, complementing current measures of academic success, such as GPA. The study underscores the advantages of complementing the current HE assessment practises with an outlined curriculum analytics approach, providing a holistic representation of a student’s learning progress.  \n\n| Notes for Practice\u003Cbr>• There exists a notable discrepancy between the professional standards higher education graduates are expected to cultivate and those that are actually assessed within academic assessments.\u003Cbr>• This study introduces a curriculum analytics approach that connects students’ performance on existing assessments to specific professional standards, allowing for quantifiable tracking of standards attainment across an entire program.\u003Cbr>• The paper provides nuanced insights into the relationship between conventional academic success and demonstrated professional readiness by comparing students ’ standards-based profiles with their GPAs.\u003Cbr>• Educational stakeholders can use the standards-based profiles to pinpoint areas of curriculum improvement and to tailor support for students with differing competency development needs. |\n| --- |\n| Keywords: Higher education, professional standards, academic success, distinct achievement patterns, curriculum analytics\u003Cbr>Submitted: 09/05/2025—Accepted: 24/11/2026—Published: 15/03/2026 |\n\nCorresponding author1Email: [abhinava.barthakur@adelaide.edu.au](abhinava.barthakur@adelaide.edu.au) Address: Centre for Change and Complexity in Learning, Adelaide  \nUniversity, 61–68 North Terrace, Adelaide SA 5000, Australia. ORCID iD: [https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2437-6892](https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2437-6892)  \n2Email: [jeljov@gmail.com](jeljov@gmail.com) Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Belgrade, Jove Ilića 154, 11010 Belgrade, Serbia; Centre for the Science of Learning & Technology (SLATE), Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen, Christies gate 12, 5015 Bergen, Norway. ORCID iD:  \n[https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1904-0446](https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1904-0446)  \n3Email: [ryanshaunbaker@gmail.com](ryanshaunbaker@gmail.com) Address: Centre for Change and Complexity in Learning, Adelaide University, 61–68 North Terrace, Adelaide SA 5000, Australia. ORCID iD: [https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3051-3232](https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3051-3232)  \n4Email: [vitomir.kovanovic@adelaide.edu.au](vito","cbCailM6rIjUKJcx","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCailM6rIjUKJcx","pdf",565613,15,"English","# Abstract\n# Notes for Practice\n# Keywords\n# Introduction\n## Capabilities-oriented teaching and learning in higher education\n## Limits of content-based assessment and reliance on GPA","[{\"question\":\"Why do current higher education assessments often fail to evaluate professional competency effectively?\",\"answer\":\"They tend to focus on content-based knowledge rather than assessing professionally regulated standards and readiness for employment in a holistic way.\"},{\"question\":\"What is the core contribution of this study?\",\"answer\":\"It introduces a curriculum analytics method that maps existing assessment grades to professional standards, using psychometric modelling and learning analytics.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the proposed approach support stakeholders beyond traditional academic success metrics?\",\"answer\":\"It enables scalable, automated inference of standards attainment and generates standards-based profiles that help identify curriculum improvement areas and tailor student support.\"}]","Assessing Patterns of Students’ Attainment of Professional Standards in Higher Education | PDF",1792272672,38]