Collective impact (CI) initiatives provide a promising collaborative community-based approach for addressing health disparities, but they are challenging to evaluate. This paper provides a detailed strategy for addressing these challenges through a case study, with the goal of not only of evaluating the CI, but also putting organizations in a…

Action research is participative research, involving all stakeholders in the research process on a voluntary basis. Its main objective is to create practical knowledge, which supports stakeholders in everyday professional processes. The creation and utilization of this kind of knowledge, the facilitation of individual and group level action…

The schools' inspection regime in England has shifted in recent decades from a focus on external assessment of practice to a scrutiny of external data and schools' self-evaluation, culminating in a normative system based on self-surveillance by school senior managers. This model of inspection (characteristic of the performative approach to public…

A State University of New York program is described in order to illustrate how self-assessment can serve two purposes: accreditation and sound institutional growth. In order to establish systems of self-assessment that support growth, the institution must identify and understand the obstacles it faces. (Author/MLW)

This book focuses on contemporary accreditation, why it matters, and how it can be done effectively. The author covers historical background, getting started, strategies for achieving accreditation, and visions for future academic success, with examples and case studies. Accreditation is the primary way of ensuring the quality of higher education…

This report by the Department of Education examines the progress made by the Student Financial Assistance (SFA) program in reaching its objectives. The report notes that for objective 1, customer satisfaction, more than 4 million direct loan records have been processed and over 1 million updates applied since winter 1999; that 84 percent of school…

The Cultural Competency Self Assessment Instrument is designed to help child welfare agencies measure their cultural competence in agency policy making, administrative procedures, and practices, and to help them review and assess their operational and programmatic functions. The issues are organized around management principles and…

Describes the development of a Comenius project involving four European countries, which focused on school self-evaluation. The project resulted in an international course held in Italy. The paper describes the planning, implementation, and evaluation of the course, noting problems and solutions, strengths and limitations, recommendations for…

An evaluation and report was done on the status of programs in architecture and related fields in the Florida State University System as a follow-up to a 1983 evaluation. The evaluation involved self-studies prepared by each program and a series of site visits to each of seven campuses and two centers with programs under review. These institutions…

Designed to provide a systematic, in-depth assessment of Miami-Dade Community College's (MDCC's) educational programs, this institutional self-study report assesses the impact and effectiveness of major reforms in the college's educational programs, student support services, and selected campus-level activities. The first of eight volumes begins…

The Reentry Adult Student Project (RASP) was initiated in 1977 as an improvement-oriented research effort designed to ease the academic reentry of adult students into New York State community colleges. In response to the difficulties facing many adult students, RASP sought to examine adult students' needs and satisfactions and assist colleges in…

Responding to an accrediting agency mandate for assessment of student outcomes. Earlham College (Richmond, Indiana), a liberal arts college, developed and implemented an assessment plan. The process began with review of the institutional identity and early identification of the philosophy and principles to guide the process. A timetable was…

In 1992, Alamogordo Branch Community College (ABCC), a branch campus of New Mexico State University, developed and implemented the Institutional Assessment and Strategic Planning (IASP) process, an integrated process designed to assess both student academic achievement and institutional effectiveness. Each year, the IASP process begins when…

This resource contains checklists, worksheets, and examples to encourage staff to share their views and to precipitate action. It assumes an open system of college management with a desire to be efficiently and effectively responsive to local needs. Section I describes briefly some challenges the further education system faces. Section II…

This report summarizes the results of Harvard University's academic planning process that took place from 1991 to 1993. An introduction outlines the process's basic goals: (1) to maintain and strengthen Harvard's excellence in education and research and to sustain its leadership position; (2) to remain open and accessible to the most outstanding…