This chapter explores the importance of systematic evaluation of co-curricular activities directed at graduate- and professional- school students. Approaches to assessment and benefits of sound practice are presented along with the critical role that institutional researchers can play.

Twenty years ago, Pescosolido and Milkie (1995) reported that 50 percent of U.S. and Canadian sociology graduate programs offered formal teacher training. Despite pronouncements that offerings have increased substantially, no similarly thorough and direct investigation has been published since. In this time of dramatic change and increasing…

This chapter is a case study of one institution's effort to institutionalize a process through which student development is promoted through active engagement with the community.

Globalization in the 21st century has brought innumerable challenges and opportunities to universities and countries. Universities are primarily concerned with how to ensure the quality of their education and how to boost their local and global competitiveness. The pressure from both international competition and public accountability on…

This report is the fifth in a series of annual reports produced by the School Choice Demonstration Project (SCDP) providing descriptive information about the schools participating in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP). Following a brief history of the MPCP, this year's report contains descriptive statistics about schools participating in…

This article provides insights from a 2-year, cross-site evaluation of state funded developmental education sites and serves as a focus article for response by those sites. Receiving grants from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB), nine sites (5 community colleges and 4 universities) implemented innovative developmental education…

In this article, 93 Greek university departments were evaluated according to their academics' h-index. A representative sample from the fields of social sciences and humanities, sciences, engineering, pharmacy and economics was adopted. In the reported study, 3354 (approximately 1 out of 3) academics serving in Greek universities were evaluated.…

This paper reports on a commissioned research project to evaluate the impact of support (mainly funding) given by the UK Government's National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) to various projects under the general heading of "science learning" over a four-year period (2000-2004). Findings emerging from the study…

Information use can be defined in many ways depending on a variety of organizational, personal, and presentational factors. The experience of evaluation researchers provides some guides for practice. (Author/MSE)

The Committee on Retirement of the American Association of University Professors initiated its first retirement policies survey in 2000 to address a lack of reliable and systematically collected information on retirement policies and practices across U.S. institutions of higher education. At the end of the 1990s, there was a sense that…

Prepared for parents, this handbook aims to help them study and assess their public schools. An introduction presents the reasons parents should gather information on their schools and discusses planning the project, organizing the group, and conducting the evaluation. Next, 13 qualities of an academically effective school are listed. Nine…

The article proposes that the key to tracking and evaluating the academic progress of college students, particularly at complex institutions, is development of a longitudinal tracking system with flexibility to support a diverse community of users and applications. Considerations for efficient maintenance and effective use of such a system are…

The institutional assessment model described in this report is used by Florida Community College at Jacksonville (FCCJ) to collect current information needed to update the goals of service and instructional units, identify opportunities for improvement and growth, and assess the resources of the college. The first sections of the paper explain the…

The way that a college can transform its periodic self-study process into an ongoing program is addressed, with a focus on the contribution of the institutional research office. Also considered are data elements that self-studies most often require and the way that data elements relate to judgments and interpretations made through the self-study.…

Illustrates progress made at Howard Community College (HCC) in the last three years in efforts to improve student learning, instructional effectiveness, and curriculum. Information for this progress report was compiled with input from offices involved in monitoring outcomes assessment of student learning at the college. These include the office of…