Introduces this theme issue, which examines contemporary dimensions of how accreditation and student outcomes assessment come together in higher education. The accountability movement in education has caused the development of two parallel continuums that have merged in ways the issue's chapters explore. (SLD)

This volume provides the background of the Kentucky Education Reform Act and discusses the assessment and evaluation principles on which it is based. It reviews early steps in implementation of the Act's mandates, but was written before most of the battles of implementation had begun. (SLD)