This workbook explains how to define what various constituents connected with a public library want it to do and what doing these things well means in qualitative terms. The book aims to define effectiveness for the public library and to provide guidelines for assessing the library's effectiveness and communicating this to stakeholders. The eight…

Prepared by the Outcomes Assessment Task Force (OATF) at Owens Community College (OCC), in Ohio, this document describes the philosophy guiding assessment at OCC and provides a non-prescriptive guide for implementing an assessment plan. Part I provides an introduction to outcomes assessment at OCC, including OCC's assessment philosophy, a list of…

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…

This report summarizes the major changes to higher education in the United Kingdom as a result of the Further and Higher Education Act of 1992. These changes include the creation of new universities and new arrangements for the assessment and assurance of quality in higher education. Due mainly to the upgrading of polytechnics to university…

Since 1988, Western Wisconsin Technical College (WWTC) has taken a leadership role in integrating institutional effectiveness activities within the Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS). In December 1992, the WTCS Administrators Association and the WTCS State Board agreed to work with the University of Michigan's Community College Consortium…

This review examines issues which need to be addressed in order to increase the effectiveness of institutional management of innovation and change in higher education, and is written primarily from a practical perspective rather than from a theoretical or research viewpoint. The paper is divided into two parts: Part I briefly reviews a number of…

This paper reports on applications of quality tools, developed for industrial settings, to educational management and instruction at three technical education centers. The necessary data were collected by the centers as they prepared for registration to the International Standards Organization Quality Assurance Standards. Application was made of…

A theoretical basis for defining and measuring the quality of institutions of higher education, namely for accreditation purposes, is developed. The theory, the Attributive Theory of Quality, is illustrated using a calculation model that is based on general systems theory. The theory postulates that quality only exists in relation to the…

Drawing from the experiences of South Carolina's Midlands Technical College (MTC), this paper offers guidelines for operationalizing institutional effectiveness and presents selected findings from MTC's efforts to assess institutional outcomes. The first section defines institutional effectiveness in terms of planning (i.e., a process documenting…

The accreditation process of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) is described along with recommendations to help schools make the most of the process. Following a brief description of the purpose and composition of WASC, the four steps of the accreditation process are listed: (1) the use of a school self-evaluation instrument;…

These inventories are designed to help faculty members, departments, colleges, and universities examine individual behaviors and institutional policies and practices for their consistency with seven principles for good practice in undergraduate education. The Faculty Inventory has seven sections, one for each principle: student-faculty contact,…

The purpose of the study described in this report was to ascertain why students in New York City high schools are earning insufficient credits to graduate in four years. Specific objectives of the study include the following: (1) to identify patterns and trends in credit accumulation among high school graduates and dropouts; (2) to determine and…

Following an introduction by Betty J. Turock, nine reports examine key issues in library evaluation: (1) "Output Measures and the Evaluation Process" (Nancy A. Van House) describes measurement as a concept to be understood in the larger context of planning and evaluation; (2) "Adapting Output Measures to Program Evaluation"…

A telephone survey of 286 Anne Arundel County residents was conducted to determine community perceptions of Anne Arundel Community College (AACC), as well as the respondents' plans for education and training in the near future. Study findings included the following: (1) the respondents rated the reputation of AACC higher than most state…

The self-study of Roberts Wesleyan College, prepared for the New York State Education Department (NYSED) Self-Study is provided. The Middle States Self-Study committees were used for review and editorial purposes in the NYSED Self-Study. Information is included on: programs used in the review, curricula and awards, faculty, admissions,…