Examines productivity ratings of institutions based on publication in reading journals. (HOD)

Analysis of the ongoing debate in the United States on higher education quality and its consequences in practice. Looks for a basis for evaluating higher education in Sweden and other western European countries. Standardized tests, other evaluation methods, restrictions on institutional autonomy, and pitfalls of the current approach are discussed.…

Presents curriculum analysis terminology defining "curriculum" as institution's entire educational program and "course" as the basic curriculum building block. "Pattern" describes groups of courses related by common knowledge affinities; "constellation" signifies courses related by common goals or…

Describes the multifaceted process for assessing students over the course of their undergraduate degree work in the Department of Theater and Dance at Appalachian State University in North Carolina. (SR)

Critical questions should be asked about educational evaluation so that it can contribute to development and change. Self- and stakeholder evaluation provide important data. Since the goal of evaluation is to define the value of what is assessed, it is important to use different lenses and methods. (SK)

Presents a framework by which writing administration can be seen as scholarly work and therefore subject to the same kinds of evaluation as other forms of disciplinary production, such as books, articles, and reviews. Argues that writing administration is worthy of tenure and promotion when it advances and enacts disciplinary knowledge within the…

Describes findings from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education's "Measuring Up 2000: The State-by-State Report Card for Higher Education," which grades all 50 states' higher education systems. Five categories of performance were evaluated, compared, and graded for each state: preparation, participation, affordability,…

Asserting that college union and student activities administrators can become more effective in reaching their desired outcomes by conducting environmental assessment, this article provides a comprehensive plan to conduct such an assessment. Discusses defining the purpose; getting to know the audience, its satisfaction level, and its needs;…

Discusses initial strategic planning efforts at the University of Louisville and the limitations of that process, and presents an improved methodology that takes an institutional vision and translates it into quantifiable performance indicators, thus providing a framework for the institution to implement, manage, and measure change. The method…

This report is a product of an European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA) Workshop "Assessing educational quality: Knowledge production and the role of experts" hosted by the Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education (NOKUT) in Oslo in February, 2008. The workshop gathered representatives from higher…

Organisational capability is recognised as a key to organisational success. The combination of human capital (peoples' skills and knowledge), social capital (relationships between people) and organisational capital (the organisation's processes), is central to building an organisation's capability. This paper, presented at the 2008 annual…

Student ratings of teaching effectiveness are widely used to make judgments of faculty teaching performance. Research, however, has found that such ratings may not be accurate indicators of teaching performance because they are contaminated by course easiness. Using student ratings of 9855 professors employed at 79 different colleges and…

The Voluntary System of Accountability (VSA) provides a framework for public universities to provide evidence of success and increase public confidence. The goals of the VSA are threefold: (1) Demonstrate greater accountability and stewardship to the public; (2) Enhance effective educational practices by measuring educational outcomes; and (3)…

Most European countries have introduced systematic quality assurance as part of an overall governance reform aimed at enhancing universities' autonomy. Researchers and economic entrepreneurs tend, however, to underestimate the political dimension of accreditation and evaluation when they consider the contribution of quality assurance to the…

Practitioners working in social welfare, education, judicial circuits, psychology, and many other domains of human sciences daily decide on best treatments for their clients. The authors expect those practitioners to base their decisions on evidence from scientific research. The Campbell collaboration is an international nonprofit organization…