From fall 2021 to summer 2022, the College Completion Network conducted virtual focus groups with administrators at 47 2-year and broad-access 4-year colleges with the goal of better understanding the advising policies, practices, and programs (hereafter referred to as "strategies") that colleges use to support student success.…

A survey sought information on the administrative factors contributing to high-quality funded research activity in 33 high-ranked but changing research universities. Influential environmental factors, faculty participation, research visibility, and key success strategies were considered. Results were linked to patterns in decline, rise, and…

Purpose: Although conflict has traditionally been considered destructive, recent studies have indicated that conflict management can contribute to effective teamwork. The present study explores conflict management as a team phenomenon in schools. The author examined how the contextual variables (task interdependence, goal interdependence) are…

Developed to help colleges enhance the effectiveness of their institutional research efforts, this workbook provides strategies for increasing effectiveness and examples of techniques and research from Maryland's Prince George's Community College (PGCC). First, an introduction summarizes the changing responsibilities of institutional research and…

Although each higher education institutional research office has a unique style and mission, their commonalities suggest guidelines for establishing effective units, including placement high in the organizational structure, consistent attention given to first-order data responsibilities (collection, reporting), attention to institutional needs, a…

Outlines a 10-step process for designing performance improvement systems which is intended to reduce time spent on the project, to assure client approval, and to assure management support. Client participation with the consultant throughout the process is stressed as the key to success. (LRW)

This paper examines the concepts of program monitoring and program evaluation in the literature, and offers working definitions based on two dimensions of measurement: focus (what questions are addressed) and timing (how often the measures are taken). Focus can be on inputs to the program or outcomes from it; timing can be one-shot or continuous.…

This article considers the nature of creativity in industrial and business settings, describes the Manchester (England) Business School Creativity Unit, models creativity in systems terms, reviews action research of the 1970s, and identifies recent areas of research at Manchester including creativity blocks and the impact of creativity training in…

Presents the results of a survey of the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business on the role of economics courses in MBA programs. Discovers a slight five-year decline in the number of economics courses. Discusses the relationship between economic course work and the focus of an MBA program. (MJP)

Quality measures were originally developed for research aimed at describing the settings that children spend time in and identifying the characteristics of these environments that contribute to children's development. They were also developed to guide improvements in practice. Increasingly, however, measures of quality are being used for further…

Describes organization and evaluation of 13 workshops at the University of Wisconsin-Madison providing professional development for clinical research support staff. Topics included ethics, protocol development, statistics, audits, and tips and tools for successful research. Evaluation indicated the workshops met educational goals but did not…

Student Affirmative Action (SAA) outreach programs to increase the participation of underrepresented minorities and the economically disadvantaged in higher education in California started with little or no coordination and scant thought of evaluation. For a variety of reasons, which include how they were planned, how they are staffed and…

The general decline in public resources has encouraged government agencies to consolidate job functions, and the internal program evaluator is becoming a scarce commodity. This paper briefly describes a case study about the circumstances and implications of merging two formally antagonistic job roles: program administrator and program evaluator.…

This paper summarizes some of the main conclusions of the Study of Dissemination Efforts Supporting School Improvement, specifically those regarding the process of innovation implementation. The focus is on the contributions of potential assisters to various implementation outcomes, from which implications for policy and practice are derived. The…

Discusses current issues in measuring library effectiveness, including rapid technological changes and increasing obsolescence in librarians' competencies; increased pressure for accountability; tools to help libraries become what they determine they should be rather than conforming to national standards; and how to determine the validity and…