There Is No Return to Normal - Occasional Paper 49 - Harnessing Chaos to Create Our New Assessment Future

Oct 15, 2026

The United States faces a reckoning shaped by two intersecting crises: the chaos of the novel coronavirus and the spread of outrage about systemic racism beyond Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPoC) communities. Institutions of higher education experience widespread loss and uncertainty, leading many to doubt individual capacity to inform or implement change. Systemic problems demand systemic solutions, and the paper calls assessment professionals to question unexamined assumptions and engage uncertainty. It provides a developmental reflection approach to identify leverage points and intentionally create a new assessment future that proactively includes all students.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages16

Reading Time40 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

There Is No Return to Normal: Harnessing Chaos to Create Our New Assessment Future

Assessment Rewind: How We Got Here

Assessment Professionals: Navigating Disruption. . . . .6 A New Way Forward. . . . .7

Step 1: Identify Assumptions

Step 2: Break Down the Problem to Fundamental Basics

Step 3: Build New Solutions

What We Say Matters

From Foundational Truths to Practice

Moving Forward Together

References

October 2020 N 0 49 National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment ThereIs No Return to Normal: Harnessing Chaos to Create Our New Assessment Future [www.learningoutcomesassessment.org](www.learningoutcomesassessment.org) Rebecca C. Hong & Kara Moloney Contents Abstract 3 There Is No Return to Normal: Harnessing Chaos to Create Our New Assessment Future 4 Assessment Rewind: How We Got Here 5 Assessment Professionals: Navigating Disruption. . . . .6 A New Way Forward. . . . .7 Step 1: Identify Assumptions. . . . .7 Step 2: Break Down the Problem to Fundamental Basics. . . . .9 Step 3: Build New Solutions. . . . .10 What We Say Matters. . . . .10 From Foundational Truths to Practice 11 Moving Forward Together. . . . .12 References 13 About the Authors 14 About NILOA 15 Please Cite As: Hong, R. C., & Moloney, K. (2020, October) . There is no return to normal: Harnessing chaos to create our new assessment future. (Occasional Paper No. 49) . Urbana, IL: University of Illinois and Indiana University, National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment. NILOA Mission The National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA), established in 2008, is a research and resourcedevelopment organization dedicated to documenting, advocating, and facilitating the systematic use of learning outcomes assessment to improve student learning. National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment | 2 Abstract The United States is in a period of reckoning from which institutions of higher education are not exempt. Rather, we exist at the intersection of the chaos wrought by the novel coronavirus and the spread of outrage about systemic racism beyond Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPoC) communities. The resulting almost universal sense of loss and uncertainty leads many of us to believe that individuals have little-to-no power to inform, never mind implement, change. Systemic problems require systemic solutions. There can be no return to “normal.” We instead invite our assessment colleagues to question the unexamined assumptions which underlie our heretofore taken-for-granted approaches to assessing and documenting our students’ learning; to reconnect with their foundational beliefs and values; and to fully engage with the uncertainty and complexity of the current moment. This paper offers readers a developmental approach for reflection, identifying potential leverage points, and intentionally creating a new assessment future which proactively includes all of our students. National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment | 3 There Is No Return to Normal: Harnessing Chaos to Create Our New Assessment Future We are living in historic times. The global health pandemic sparked by the novel coronavirus (hereafter: COVID-19) continues to wreak havoc in every corner of the world. When COVID-19 hit the United States early in 2020, institutions of higher education, not known to be early adopters as a general rule, were forced to respond immediately to a crisis of previously unimagined magnitude. Institutions adopted atriage model, which left decision makers with little time for reflection. With little-to-no warning, final exams and courses were pushed to emergency remote teaching contexts. Staff and faculty packed their laptops, books, and other resources to resume their work in home offices and at dining room tables. Students were asked to move out of campus residences, many with only a few days’ notice. The disruptions of daily life from going to work and school, gathering for rituals such as birthdays and commencements, and seeing friends and family, contributed to a shared sense of disequilibrium. Compounding the anxiety caused by the initial dislocation of higher education, COVID-19 infection and death rates numbers in the U.S. continued to climb in March and eventually hit one million cases by April 28, 2020 (Johns Hopkins University & Medicine, 2020) . Mu

FAQs

What is the central message of the paper?

There can be no return to “normal.” The paper argues that systemic problems require systemic solutions and challenges assessment professionals to rethink underlying assumptions.

How does the paper frame the impact of COVID-19 on higher education assessment?

COVID-19 forced institutions to respond immediately, disrupting course delivery, exams, and student life, creating uncertainty that affects assessment practices.

What steps does the paper propose for creating a new assessment future?

It outlines a developmental approach: identify assumptions, break the problem into fundamental basics, and build new solutions while engaging complexity and uncertainty.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Alex Sinclair