Using Evidence of Student Learning to Improve Higher Education breaks apart assessment into three main sections. It looks at what has worked in the past by analyzing what evidence and practice has shown to be effective. It also analyzes the stakeholders in educational assessment with a strong emphases on executive administrators and faculty. Lastly, it looks to where assessment of higher education is headed.

While this volume self professes not to be a handbook of assessment, it is a guide through the history and best practices of assessment as seen through the NILOA members. It is a fairly complete work that adds to the assessment literature by bringing multiple components into one collection, expanding on those components, and analyzing them in a clear and concise way.

However, until the last chapter the inclusion of staff is non-existent despite touching on items that may commonly be done by staff. Yet, the very reasons why departments utilization of staff to support assessment efforts were touched on the support role was not brought to be part of the conversation.

While this work is more theoretical than applied it does bring to light common difficulties and many less talked about aspects of the practicalities of higher education assessment.