Closing the Loop in Assurance of Learning Programs: Current Practices and Future Challenges

Although it has been 5 years since the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) expressed the expectation that schools should be demonstrating a high level of maturity implementing their assurance of learning programs, the authors’ results indicate that most accredited programs are in the early stages of developing their closing-the-loop practices. Among assurance of learning leaders there is disagreement as to what constitutes a closing-the-loop activity and there are serious challenges to systematically implementing curricular responses including the time necessary to develop, initiate, and then reevaluate effectiveness. Faculty ownership, a crucial feature of the assurance of learning process, is reported as the number one challenge confronting accredited programs.