Every college struggles to create processes of quality assurance and continuous improvement to demonstrate and ensure its service to students and community. Accreditation is one avenue that ensures some uniformity across many institutions in the eyes of the public. While this paper focuses on accreditation processes and meeting the needs of…

Asserting that college union and student activities administrators can become more effective in reaching their desired outcomes by conducting environmental assessment, this article provides a comprehensive plan to conduct such an assessment. Discusses defining the purpose; getting to know the audience, its satisfaction level, and its needs;…

This book analyzes and discusses what is currently known about the benefits and costs of assessment programs for institutions of higher education. It is designed to provide a framework that can be applied by both institutional and state-level academic administrators as they consider which kinds of assessment approaches best fit their own needs and…

Thirty specific standards developed as guiding principles to maintain the utility, feasibility, propriety and accuracy of evaluations in educational programs, projects and materials are presented. Utility Standards include Audience Identification, Evaluator Credibility, Information Scope and Selection, Valuational Interpretation, Report Clarity,…

Guides institutions or evaluation teams on the preparation of a self-study report or evaluation based on ACCJC (Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges) 2002 standards. Emphasizes that institutions should use this guide as means for a more holistic evaluation through thoughtful dialogue and judgment about institutional quality.…

This report discusses the use of performance indicators (PIs) in higher education, focusing on definitions, frameworks, examples, and implications for universities. It notes that demands for accountability have led to intense interest in university performance measures, and that early indicators simply described the university or the system and…

A project developed and tested an Institutional Effectiveness Assessment Guide (IEAG) that incorporated themes and factors identified by Wardlow et al. (1992) as contributing to excellence. An interpretive design was used to enable researchers to gain input and consensus from participants of exemplary institutions regarding the institutional-level…

Prepared by the Outcomes Assessment Task Force (OATF) at Owens Community College (OCC), in Ohio, this document describes the philosophy guiding assessment at OCC and provides a non-prescriptive guide for implementing an assessment plan. Part I provides an introduction to outcomes assessment at OCC, including OCC's assessment philosophy, a list of…

This document, produced by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC), is a handbook for administrators of community, junior, and specialized two-year colleges. This handbook is for the specific use of institutions under review, members of evaluation teams, and others who are concerned with good practice in associate…

This document is an accreditation guide for community and junior colleges from the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC), which is part of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. The purpose of the guide is to communicate the general background and content of the accreditation standards. The guide is divided…

This report provides a guide for the evaluation of programs of studies leading to an Attestation of College Studies (AEC) in the Business Administration Technology and Cooperation sectors in Quebec. The Commission d'evaluation de l'enseignement collegial asks that colleges evaluate all full-time AEC programs they offer in these sectors using this…

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…

Minnesota's Family Service Collaboratives and Children's Initiative Partners encourage cooperation between communities and schools to improve the health of babies and children, increase school readiness, provide stable family environments, and promote basic academic skills. To fulfill the evaluation needs of these programs, this resource manual…

This guide is intended to serve as a systematic checklist for evaluators of vocational training institutions and for directors of schools or skills centers who want to identify areas in need of improvement. Discussed first are steps in defining the purpose of the evaluation (nature and objectives of the project, point of view, and the initial…

This resource contains checklists, worksheets, and examples to encourage staff to share their views and to precipitate action. It assumes an open system of college management with a desire to be efficiently and effectively responsive to local needs. Section I describes briefly some challenges the further education system faces. Section II…