Over the past two decades, American institutions have been expected to include systematic program reviews to meet accrediting standards, either by independent or governmental review agencies. Program evaluation is critical for several reasons: it provides systematic ways to assess what needs improvement or what needs changing and it provides ways…

Purpose: This paper aims to discuss an integrated paradigm that aligns the measures of knowledge management (KM) performance to attain corporate goals in organisations. It presents the main findings of an exploratory study on the use of the paradigm and the accompanied self-assessment scheme in industrial enterprises in Trinidad and Tobago…

This qualitative study identified the best practices utilized by community colleges to achieve systemic and cultural agreement in support of the integration of institutional effectiveness measures (key performance indicators) to inform decision making. In addition, the study identifies the relevant motives, organizational structure, and processes…

Planners strive to develop the best programs and strategies to enhance student learning and advance their institutional mission while meeting their desired outcomes. This work, while rewarding, can be time intensive and demanding and developing new initiatives is not without risks. Some common reasons these efforts fail include: lack of buy-in…

The presentation will trace the experiences of two program directors from Walden University and their examination of issues involved with faculty assessment. Their experiences were used to create a simple but effective and workable model for faculty assessment and development. Once a presentation of how data were obtained, and analyzed, to create…

Total quality management interventions and assessments must be more theory grounded and contingency based to advance understanding of its applicability, potential, and pitfalls in the public sector. Two-step and stage-state evaluative models can be used to ameliorate its shortcomings. (JOW)

Based on Penn State's popular "Innovation Insights" series, this book brings together in one handy reference nearly a decade of tried and true insights into continuous quality improvements in higher education. Their five-step model for integrating planning, assessment, and improvement moves plans off the shelf and into the weekly and daily…

This article describes the cost-of-quality model used at El Camino College (California), which formally measures the costs associated with process improvement activities. A case study illustrates use of the model in evaluating a new process for reimbursing faculty and staff attending conferences. (DB)

The educational establishment is under a great deal of pressure to improve and to prove to its critics that it has done so. This paper develops three concepts to support its thesis: effective schools, the change process, and outcomes-based education (OBE). To achieve effective schools, major change must take place. Yet change is not easy for…

Advocates the use of the Total Quality Management (TQM) model for libraries to survive financially and to retain their customers. An award for library quality based on the Malcolm Baldridge Award is proposed to enable institutions to use an evaluation procedure that rewards a commitment to continuous improvement. (Contains five references.) (EAM)

These four papers are from a symposium that was facilitated by Nancy Dixon at the 1995 conference of the Academy of Human Resource Development (HRD). "Reliability Testing of Multirater Feedback" (Wim J. Nijhof, Anne Jager) focuses on testing the reliability and validity of the multirater feedback system. Findings are reported that conclude that…

Determining how to monitor and enhance school effectiveness is one of the major concerns in current education reforms in different areas of the world. This paper describes the existing conceptual and practical possibilities and dilemmas in developing a framework for monitoring school effectiveness. The paper identifies the different types of…

Explains the need for meaningful performance measures in libraries and the Total Quality Management (TQM) approach to data collection. Five tools representing different stages of a TQM inquiry are covered (i.e., the Shewhart Cycle, flowcharts, cause-and-effect diagrams, Pareto charts, and control charts), and benchmarking is addressed. (Contains…

Presents a model of quality assurance for colleges and universities, distilled from key concepts in the literature about quality assurance and higher education culture and practice. The model has continuous quality improvement in student learning at its center, and includes elements of institutional values, faculty evaluation and development,…

Discusses total quality management as a holistic model of improvement for education which can be integrated with other school restructuring models. Elements of the model are explained, including administrative support, needs assessments, quality specifications, strategic planning, and progress assessments, both formative and summative; and three…