The purpose of the National AEM Center's Quality Indicators with Critical Components for Higher Education is to assist institutes of higher education, both at the system and campus level, with planning, implementing, and evaluating dynamic, coordinated systems for providing accessible materials and technologies for all students who need them. The…

Head Start has long focused on assessing and improving program quality to ensure that the children served receive the best possible preparation for school and life. Most research has been focused inside the classroom--the classroom environment, teacher qualifications, and teacher interactions. Of course, the classroom is important because that is…

This paper aims to inspire stakeholders working with quality of higher education (such as members of study boards, study programme directors, curriculum developers and teachers) to critically consider their evaluation methods in relation to a focus on student learning. We argue that many of the existing methods of evaluation in higher education…

As part of the revised method for quality assurance in higher education in England, a Task Group was established to identify the categories of data, information, and judgments about quality and standards of teaching and learning that should be available within higher education institutions (HEIs), and those that should be published. The Task Group…

During the 1989 Arkansas legislative session, an act was passed mandating the Arkansas Office of Accountability to publish annual reports on school performance. To help educators deal with issues related to systems of educational effectiveness indicators, a seminar for educational stakeholders to ask questions and offer comments about developing…

The Quality Education Checklist focuses on key inputs, processes, and outputs of schools needed to ensure continuous improvement. Intended as a self-auditing aid for schools, the checklist may also be used as a method to define the priority of areas for improvement, as a way to gather information from customers, as a professional development…

This guide is the third in a series of guidelines designed to be a framework for positive action at the school site and in the classroom through the High Schools That Work program, an effort to raise the achievement of career-bound students. Its purpose is to help high schools determine where they are in relation to the goals and key practices of…

Child care quality is not a single dimension, but rather a multidimensional characteristic of programs that support the family in its child-rearing role and programs in which children thrive developmentally, socially, cognitively, physically, and emotionally. At the regulatory and accreditation level, approaches to quality focus on group size,…

This report examines the extent to which individuals with disabilities are involved in national and state data collection programs that play a pivotal role in reform efforts focusing on measurement of educational indicators. Thirty national data collection programs were identified and 9 of the 30 are reviewed. The extent to which students with…

Most administrators agree that school improvement and change are needed. Disagreement among administrators arises over how the improvements should be made. Total Quality Management (TQM) is a powerful tool in bringing about change and should be considered as an effective alternative in improvement efforts. The TQM approach is designed to address…

This report presents a blueprint for attracting, developing, and retaining skilled and diverse teachers who effectively increase the achievement of all of Virginia's students. The five recommendations are to: (1) develop a comprehensive database to support Virginia's commitment to teacher quality; (2) expand recruitment initiatives to attract…

Designed specifically for higher education administrators, faculty, and student affairs professionals, this book provides a comprehensive overview of the principles, purposes, practices and uses of assessment, with particular emphasis on student learning and development. Nine chapters present and discuss a series of assessment steps: Chapter 1…

This booklet introduces the principles and practices of benchmarking as a way of raising quality and achievement at further education colleges in Britain. Section 1 defines the concept of benchmarking. Section 2 explains what benchmarking is not and the steps that should be taken before benchmarking is initiated. The following aspects and…

This booklet gives smaller adult and community learning (ACL) providers and their partners a practical insight into how to adapt current approaches to quality improvement for their own institutions. The first sections set out how they can do the following: plan the process; collect, collate, and analyze data; make value judgements and act upon…

This paper explores the concept of benchmarking in institutional research, a comparative analysis methodology designed to help colleges and universities increase their educational quality and delivery systems. The primary purpose of benchmarking is to compare an institution to its competitors in order to improve the product (in this case…