Psychometric problems and potential design flaws must be considered as institutions attempt to document the influence of the college experience on student development. Problems related to conceptual issues, psychometric questions, or research designs are analyzed. (MLW)

Success may be conceptualized within five major domains: academic, aesthetic, social, physical, and moral. The five domains may be further considered either within an individual or a societal dimension, depending on which party principally benefits. Finally, success can be further subdivided into two models; one being competitive, which is termed…

Whether college is worth what it costs is reviewed in this summarization of the author's book, "Investment in Learning." A survey of the literature leads to the following four conclusions. (1) that the economic returns of higher education, in the form of higher earnings, improved technology, and a higher gross national product, alone offset the…

Examines the effects of tutoring on trained college tutors and tutees. Reports on interviews of 39 tutors and evaluations from 838 of their tutees, concluding that tutoring plays an integral role in the development of college students and that tutoring programs have value on campus. Lists the qualities of a good tutor, describes tutoring processes…

Current methods and instruments for assessing college student academic outcomes are identified and described, and possible outcome measures of NCRIPTAL's (National Center for Research to Improve Postsecondary Teaching and Learning) are suggested. Section I defines college outcomes from several perspectives, including pressures for outcome…

A variety of techniques are available for evaluating the success that implemented programs have in terms of achieving the expected and desired student outcomes and, by extension, the desired goals and objectives of the institution. Current approaches to such analysis are generally limited to the basic strategy of survey research. The two major…

Discusses interconnections between the following two national reports: (1) Involvement in Learning; and (2) The Student Learning Imperative. Reviews recent research on student development in order to demonstrate how student affairs professionals can use this information to enhance learning. (SNR)

Research findings from various countries on the role of schools in student development are reviewed, with an eye toward promoting a comparative model for research on the subject. First, research is discussed that indicates that schools have little or no effect relative to students' home background and individual qualities (the 1966 Coleman report…

This review of the literature on performance appraisal for college and university faculty was undertaken to serve the ultimate goal of improving student cognitive learning. The starting point was to ask what is known about performance appraisal. What are its positive and negative consequences? How does the manner in which it is conducted relate to…

Indices and manifestations of quality in undergraduate education are considered and a four-part framework is developed. Context indices represent institutional characteristics that remain relatively stable over time (e.g., expenditures per student and size of student body), while input indices reflect characteristics of entering students (e.g.,…

The term "value added" refers to the assessment of the amount of learning that takes place during the college years. Two experiments, Value Added I and Value Added II, attempted to measure college students' attainment of eight liberal education objectives: (1) writing ability; (2) analytical ability; (3) sensitivity to ethics, morals,…

In an examination of the meaning and measurement of quality in the undergraduate experience, quality is compared with the conceptually similar but distinct concepts of adequacy and excellence. Most of the conceptual frameworks available for assessing quality are essentially unidimensional assessment strategies that rely almost exclusively on…

Resource allocation processes suitable for use in not-for-profit institutions are discussed and a conceptual model for resource allocation in institutions of higher education is presented. The objectives of higher education include the personal development and education of students, not merely the certification of students by conferring degrees.…