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

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)

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

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)

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)

Problems in the usefulness of current financial assessment methods are examined and specific suggestions are made for assessment methodology and validation procedures. Expert ratings, if improved, could be a meaningful validation criterion. Self-assessment, while useful for individual schools, is not as useful for multiple institutions as…

Computer technology is rapidly being integrated into decision support systems that far surpass the potential of other information systems. To take advantage of this potential, the administrator must be able to evaluate these systems in terms that are relevant to the organization. (Author/MLW)

A discussion of college and university evaluation efforts of their leadership development programs looks at a variety of ways in which institutions assess programming needs, leadership styles and skills, program design, leadership development results, and overall institutional impact of leadership programming. (MSE)

A successful review of program quality, it is suggested, requires a clear understanding by all participants of what is meant by "quality." Academic quality is defined. Much of the confusion about assessing program quality results from an inability or unwillingness to try to determine exactly what is to be assessed. (MLW)

A survey and case studies of southern institutions show a great diversity in approaches to instructional evaluation and considerable unevenness in both the effectiveness of the systems in achieving their purposes and in the validity of some of the practices used. (Editor/LBH)

A new approach to college financial self-assessment is described that focuses on changes in resources as the indicators of the institution's flexibility to respond to changes in its environment. The model is designed so that assessment results can be easily communicated within and outside the institution. (MSE)

A discussion of faculty portfolios as evidence of how college faculty spend their time, for purposes of evaluation and reward, looks at the range of legitimate faculty work, its role in distribution of rewards, criteria for judging quality and quantity, and collection, analysis and reporting of this information. (MSE)

The state policy implications of using higher education performance indicators for accountability purposes are examined, based on the experiences of 10 case study states (Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, New York, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin) and others that have initiated such efforts. Specific issues that must be…

All postsecondary institutions in Tennessee have the opportunity to earn an annual budget supplement for instruction from the state if certain criteria, based on educational outcomes, are obtained. A comprehensive assessment program at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville is described. (MLW)