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 most multi-campus studies of college impact that have been conducted over the past four decades, investigators have relied on ordinary least squares (OLS) regression as the analytic method of choice. Recently, however, some investigators have advocated the use of Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM), a method specifically designed for analyses…

Integrating institutional research, outcomes assessment, program review, strategic planning, and accreditation can be a powerful means of creating a culture of evidence-based decision making and continuous improvement. This study examined how this "integrated" model is organized in practice, how such offices began, why this approach was chosen,…

In the modern world, higher education is transitioning from enrollment mode to recruitment mode. This shift paved the way for institutional research and policy making from historical data perspective. More and more universities in the U.S. are implementing and using enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, which collect vast amounts of data.…

Evaluative statements from alumni have legitimacy with both internal and external stakeholders. Thus, alumni studies can provide valuable evidence of institutional effectiveness and lend themselves to both locally designed and commercial survey instruments for data collection. Under ideal conditions, the results of alumni studies equip faculty and…

An institutional research model used at Washington University is outlined and other practical suggestions are offered to financial aid administrators inclined to conduct similar research. The original study assessed the effects of loans on students after leaving school. (MSE)

New strategies for allocating limited resources to achieve maximum program effectiveness in times of declining enrollments coupled with inflation are discussed. A model for resource allocation is proposed and a case study presented. (Author/SF)

Recent literature on academic program review or evaluation is reviewed, including case study reports of ways in which systematic reviews of programs have been designed and carried out at selected colleges. Attention is given to procedures that have been used or suggested for collecting information. (MLW)

The nature and form of useful management information in a variety of situations is discussed. It is suggested that questions posed by managers may determine the effectiveness of the management information system. Questions concerning demographic trends and enrollment declines are used to illustrate this point. (SF)

Possible impacts of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) criterion, Section III, Institutional Effectiveness, are considered. The way that one state university is approaching the new SACS' expectation on institutional effectiveness is examined. Attention is directed to: an effectiveness process model developed by a self-study…

A model of an evaluation process for a college level mathematics course using management procedures is described. It is suggested that by designing the evaluation process as part of a management procedure, data useful for making policy decisions will be generated and the success of the instructional process will be insured. The foundation of the…

Three strategies for conducting research on private gift fund raising in higher education are discussed to promote interaction between institutional researchers and fund-raising officials. Attention is directed to: progress on standardized reporting for cost-effectiveness research; applications of a model for measuring effort, performance, and…

A study was conducted using quality control and quality assurance models to examine student outcomes. The purpose was to investigate current quality control and quality assurance practices in six colleges, to evaluate the relationship between quantitative effectiveness measures and qualitative outcomes measure and to assess the readiness of each…

A survey of 35 two-year colleges with exemplary institutional planning systems was conducted to determine the present status of institutional planning and to develop a conceptually sound planning process model. The 35 colleges were asked to complete a survey instrument focusing on over 250 variables; 32 colleges responded. Survey results indicated…

This study used the Bayesian Theorem and cost/effectiveness analysis to measure the short and long range effectiveness and minimum costs of individualized instructional units constructed by educational development officers for use with low-income students at four North Carolina technical institutes designated as developing institutions. Students…