Cultural Barriers to Change in Assessment Practices in Higher Education

The culture at the authors' institution raised barriers to changing from traditional assessment to portfolio assessment in the doctoral program. A Culture of Independence presented barriers of time and functional inadequacy. A Culture of Compliance raised trust, group process, and membership issues. These barriers were managed and overcome using appropriate group-process strategies, thus moving the institutional culture toward collaboration and innovation. The author emphasizes the importance of attending to the higher education culture if programmatic or structural change is to endure.