Assessment has become an important aspect of almost every academic or extracurricular program within institutions of higher education in the United States. This article defines internationalization and its related activities while discussing educational outcomes and offering a model for developing assessment strategies for said activities.…

This chapter explores the best practices and resources for adopting assessment and evaluation strategies and practices across countries.

This chapter proposes a simple framework, "orthogonality," to help clarify what stakeholders think about learning in college, how we assess outcomes, and how clear assessment methods might help increase confidence in returns on investment.

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

One large state university system took the initiative to establish an institutional system of accountability that simultaneously met external and internal purposes. (Contains 1 table.)

Asserts that efforts to improve student learning must be tied to ongoing evaluation and assessment, and offers tips on conducting this evaluation. (EV)

Effective tenure policies, including periodic post-tenure review of performance, can not only protect academic freedom but assure high levels of faculty achievement. (Editor/PG)

Performance appraisal for administrators in higher education is an absolute, but good appraisal reflects both sensitivity and a knowledge of institutional and individual rights. Common deficiencies of appraisal systems, methods, purposes of administrative appraisal, goal-setting, and guidelines for conducting appraisal interviews are discussed.…

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)

Describes a probable path for the development of accreditation resources and processes necessary to respond to change in educational delivery systems, especially the rapid growth of distance education, with an appropriate system of quality assurance. Lists issues that must be addressed to allow accrediting associations to evaluate distance…

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)

This article presents a family of organizational performance measures that enable decision makers at institutions of higher education to weigh the returns on investment in Total Quality Management. The enrollment management process is used to illustrate the use of six performance measures. The importance of a thorough knowledge of organizational…

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)

Uses the example of teacher education to explore how the procedural and consensus standards of accrediting agencies may not be providing enough evidence that student learning is occurring. Suggests other lines of evidence that should be used to understand an educator's competence. (SLD)