Any institutional approach to improving graduation rates must include faculty. Faculty, more than anyone else, deliver an institution's "promise," one course at a time. They also evaluate whether or not students have demonstrated sufficient mastery of the subject at hand to make "progress" toward their degrees. This article considers how…

The Baldrige quality criteria generate a number of questions that can make accreditation self-studies more productive. (Contains 4 figures and 8 notes.)

The Malcolm Baldrige Quality guideposts provide a comprehensive model for systematic quality improvement and innovation in colleges and universities.

Three criteria for a sound evaluation program are identified: procedures should be credible, valid, and fair. Assessing administrative performance must begin with explication of contextual factors and unique characteristics that constrain or enhance opportunities. (MLW)

A summary of the strengths and weaknesses of contracting, and of the factors educators should consider in adopting the idea on their campus. (Editor)

Discusses the lack of uniformity in U.S. universities' evaluations of foreign students' credentials for admission and determination of whether to transfer a student's credits from a foreign university. Includes a list of independent credential evaluation firms. (EV)

How individualized programs require individualized assessment of student achievement, and how these programs can themselves be assessed. (Editor)

Formal evaluation of presidents of colleges and universities must take into account the special nature and needs of that role today, or the process will prove counterproductive. Resistance to evaluation, the politics of evaluation, problems and needs of presidents, and evaluation criteria are discussed. (Author/LBH)

The rupture between evaluation and action is seen as a failure to take a systems view of the situation. Both the organization and the proposed evaluation program must be understood as interactive systems, which mesh with, rather than oppose, each other if they are appropriately designed and implemented. (MLW)

Differences in state-level program review processes are explained in terms of six design decisions and the implementation environment. The six areas included: purposes and objectives, scope of the review, schedule of reviews, criteria used, who will be involved in program review, and decisions to be made. (MLW)

Two planning and decision-making models are outlined that are designed to aid administrators in deciding when to hire a consultant, how to choose a consultant, and how to maximize the consultation's effectiveness. (MSE)

The use of financial self-assessment methods is a natural extension of the self-study phase of the accreditation process. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools established a subcommittee on financial stability to improve screening for deteriorating financial conditions. The chair acts as consultant to the committee on standards and…

The development of standard measures of financial health and distress should not mislead anyone into thinking there are common yardsticks for measuring the potentials of each college and university for survival and vitality. However, the process of developing and examining indicators can be healthy in itself. (Author/MSE)

Evaluation systems aimed primarily at helping administrators and faculty in the governance and administration of institutions (for improvement in curriculum, services, or research or reallocation of resources) are discussed. A formal evaluation system involves the establishment, maintenance, and operation of an information system. (MLW)

Assessment is analyzed using the conceptualization of educational evaluation. Ten questions provide the framework for this analysis: the meaning of assessment, purpose of assessment, criteria to judge the merit or worth of what has been assessed, who should be served by assessment, etc. (MLW)