Holistic student learning has been a hallmark of U.S. higher education since the early 20th Century when the American Council on Education (ACE) published the "Student Personnel Point of View" (SPPV) in 1937, reaffirming time and again that learning happens both inside and outside of the classroom. To consider students' holistic…

Assessment of educational effectiveness provides vitally important feedback to Institutions of Higher Education. It also provides important information to external stakeholders, such as prospective students, parents, governmental and local regulatory entities, professional and regional accrediting organizations, and representatives of the…

This study commences a process of developing a scale for the measurement of service quality in higher education in South Africa and also examines the relationship between the measures of service quality on the one hand and some other related variables such as intention to leave the university, trust in management of the university and the overall…

A diverse society has created a diverse education system, which in turn requires diverse and complex mechanisms of quality control. The diversity and complexity of the industrial, service, and knowledge-based economy, with its vast variety of occupations and dynamic labor markets, heavily influences the curricular structures and academic profiles…

Describes 10 components that are characteristic of effective assessment programs. Suggests that effective assessment programs are ones that have a recognized campus value in addition to satisfying the requirements established by external mandates. (RS)

Prior work on organizational effectiveness and strategic management is applied to assessing the strategy and effectiveness of higher education systems. It is suggested that like organizations, systems need to address three kinds of effectiveness: goal achievement, resource acquisition, and constituent satisfaction. Both organizations and systems…

This white paper on educational accountability was written in response to a request from the Colorado Commission on Higher Education (CCHE). Of major concern in this study of accountability are the distinctions between system-level and institutional-level obligations. The concept of accountability is developed and related to other important…

This study examined how firmly formalized institutional effectiveness processes were in place on college campuses and whether those processes were deemed successful and useful by campus communities, noting the effectiveness of Web-based surveying to collect information. Respondents were college administrators involved in their institution's…

Offers insights into educational evaluation in Greece by presenting history and the current state of school effectiveness research. Reviews a number of studies, including studies from other countries, to examine the policy implications of school effectiveness research. (SLD)

This paper provides advice to college and university administrators on issues and problems associated with the assessment and documentation of institutional effectiveness, in light of the current Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) criteria for institutional self-evaluation. Administrators need to: (1) get the attention of…

States that comprehensive, systematic plans to assess student learning can be both the rudder guiding and the sail driving change in staff, program, and organizational development. Explores the nature of assessment and how it can and does serve such roles, driving change in the college or adapting to emerging community needs. Contains 27…

Presents a comprehensive model for assessing the institutional effectiveness of academic programs and illustrates, through a case study, strategies for managing the difficulties inherent within this process. Models the system designed for West Point's Academic Program and describes how the model was implemented into an academic environment.…

Advocates that campus professionals, particularly student affairs professionals, refocus on student learning in all its dimensions. Discusses research and learning, students' 24-hour needs, engaging in professional inquiry, collegiality, and classroom assessment techniques. Reiterates that learning is the goal of all education and that students…

Risks inherent in using the value-added model to assess institutional effectiveness are discussed, including instructional bias favoring test content, overemphasis on test results, differential interpretations of results, and ethical issues related to the use of student records. (MSE)

Based on the theory that institutional change and improvement are motivated more by knowledge of problems than by knowledge of successes, a fault tree analysis technique using Boolean logic for assessing institutional ineffectiveness by determining weaknesses in the system is presented. Advantages and disadvantages of focusing on weakness rather…