Describing Pima Community College's (Arizona) institutional effectiveness program, this report provides related board policy, an overview of the program, and an analysis of each of the five program components. Following introductory materials and a board statement indicating the college's commitment to ensuring institutional effectiveness through…

Interest in Total Quality Management (TQM) at institutions of higher education has been stressed in recent years as an important area of activity for institutional researchers. Two previous AIR Forum papers have presented some of the statistical and graphical methods used for TQM. This paper, the third in the series, first discusses some of the…

Paine College, a four-year liberal arts institution in Augusta, Georgia, serving mostly black students recently completed an assessment and evaluation plan aimed at all units of the college. The plan was developed by members of the Committee on Institutional Effectiveness and Research over 12 months and focuses on the school's primary mission to…

This report measures the draw of public, private, and special high school graduates to Miami-Dade Community College (MDCC) in Florida. For the public schools, 5 years of enrollment data are presented, spanning 1993-94 through 1997-98. Draw data for Dade County private and public special high schools are for 1997-98. The statistics for the…

This study investigated differences in freshmen to senior student general education gains across institutions of higher education, with varying patterns of general education requirements using a mixed-effect structural equation model. The subjects were 6,409 students at 34 colleges and universities nationwide. Study procedures used American…

This paper describes a multi-faceted approach to improving student retention at an urban public university. It is noted that the students at this institution are older, working people; few live on campus and participate in what would be considered traditional student experiences. The paper examines the physical setting and external environment;…

Drawing on four examples of institutional research undertaken at San Joaquin Delta College (SJDC), this paper offers six principles to help researchers make their work more relevant and to enable decision makers to utilize research more effectively. The research examples provide brief descriptions of the need for, methodology of, and findings of…

The Student Success Program (SSP) at Mohawk College of Applied Arts and Technology, in Ontario (Canada), combines institutional research, intervention strategies, and evaluation to form an effective model of student retention. The institutional research component is managed by the Retention Information System (RIS), which collects demographic,…

This institutional effectiveness plan for Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC) is designed to serve as the blueprint by which assessment activities are undertaken and results disseminated throughout the college. First, Chapter One provides an overview of CPCC's self-study planning process, indicating that a 33-member task force comprised of…

In spring 1991, a survey was conducted of 991 community and technical colleges nationwide to determine the extent to which they engaged in environmental scanning (ES) activities. In particular, the study sought to identify those institutions that currently conduct environmental scans; the nature of the links between ES and program development,…

In 1991, a national survey was conducted of institutional research directors at 150 two- and four-year colleges to investigate practitioner perceptions of institutional research effectiveness and productivity. Randomly selected directors of institutional research were mailed a one-page questionnaire, requesting information about institution size…

The contribution of high school guidance counselors during the information and inquiry stages of students' selection of a college was assessed. A statewide population survey of all high school counselors in New York yielded 660 usable responses (20 percent). Attention is focused on quality estimations of four criteria for 15 institutions. Quality…

A directory of 173 doctoral dissertations in progress or completed in the early 1980s at 36 universities is presented that covers 7 areas related to the study of higher education. The directory was compiled by the ASHE Committee on Graduate Students, based on a survey of U.S. and Canadian professors of graduate programs in higher education. Each…

The types and number of faculty cases litigated and reported at state and federal levels for the 1982 calendar year were examined. Each of 48 cases was reviewed for the basic facts, the underlying legal rationale, the data requirements, and the decision of the court. Categories of cases and the associated data needs were developed. From these…

A procedure used to select students for a nursing program in a community college was evaluated, and attention was directed to the cost effectiveness of the program and the implications for the community of an open-door policy. The selection criteria were based on high school grades in chemistry and biology; scores on the Aptitude Test for Allied…