The University of Colorado regents are poised to approve a measure this week that would introduce standardized tests to the Boulder campus as a way to gauge how much students are learning.

But some CU students aren’t raising their No. 2 pencils to the idea, instead griping about additional test-taking and warning that it will be hard to get undergraduates to put their all into a test that doesn’t affect grade-point average.

The bipartisan CU leaders sponsoring the measure, though, say the test can help market a CU degree and show students the value of their college education. To sweeten the test-taking task, they propose that there be incentives, like prizes or free food, for the sample of 200-some students who take the tests.

“Ultimately, I think this will make a CU degree more valuable as students compete for jobs with other graduates who come from schools that don’t use a scientific method to measure how much students learn,” said CU Regent Stephen Ludwig, a Democrat from Lone Tree who is sponsoring the measure.

If the regents pass the measure Tuesday, it will be up to campus leaders to iron out details of how the tests will be administered, and to appeal to students about the worth of the results.

Michael Poliakoff, CU’s vice president for academic affairs and research, has presented the testing idea to the regents, saying that it’s a written test, unlike the multiple-choice standardized exams given to grade-schoolers or the SAT tests taken by high-schoolers.

The test would measure how proficient CU students are in areas such as critical thinking, problem solving and communicating — skills that transcend any particular major.

“Value-added” exams are picking up in popularity at universities across the country, with more than 100 four-year schools giving the Collegiate Learning Assessment, one of three tests commonly used in the past school year. The Colorado Springs campus already uses a similar test called the Measure of Academic Proficiency and Progress.

The exams would test a representative group of students, about 100 freshmen and 100 seniors. The results could be compared between freshmen and seniors, and also stacked up against similar universities nationwide.

Matt Middleton, a CU sophomore studying environmental science, said he foresees a repeat of high school. Even though standardized tests were a way to measure the strength of a school, students slacked when it came to taking the exams, he said.

“People didn’t take them seriously,” Middleton said. “I don’t think they realize when they’re taking the test that it reflects your school.”

Sophomore Byron Rudisill said upperclassmen might be more likely to take the test seriously since they are closer to job searches. But he thinks a better way for employers to measure how much he learned would be to look at the rigor of classes he has taken over his four years, and his correlating GPA.

Rudisill said a written test also isn’t a fair way to measure what engineering students, like himself, have learned.

Lindsay Hosford, a CU senior studying molecular, cellular and developmental biology, said college freshmen are coming off the heels of stressful ACT and SAT tests and are dealing with the anxiety of getting adapted to college life. Adding a standardized test to the mix would translate to added stress, she said.

CU Regent Kyle Hybl, R-Colorado Springs, who is co-sponsoring the testing measure, acknowledges that taking exams isn’t enjoyable.

“But the results of the test can demonstrate that the University of Colorado is effectively teaching its students,” Hybl said.

He said the measure has support from his colleagues on the board.

If it passes, CU campuses will be required to start the test programs by the 2009-10 school year.