Improving the quality of undergraduate speech communication education depends to a large extent on effectively measuring student achievement in college level communication skills. While formal tests are not as well developed for speaking skills as for other areas of the curriculum, they are available. The two used most frequently are the…

In May 1986, the Board of Regents of Higher Education in Massachusetts accepted a report of a statewide program review in postsecondary business administration education. This critique of the program review report focuses specifically on the board-adopted requirement that public senior institutions seek accreditation from the American Assembly of…

Given the wide individual differences among any group of students and since measurements are always accompanied by errors, the question of how tests should be used in assessing the quality of an educational program is considered. The ways in which educators have dealt with this problem are reviewed, from the systematic examinations of the question…

One of the key responsibilities of a school board is to adopt procedures for regular evaluation of the superintendent's performance. This handbook therefore provides specific suggestions for developing these procedures. Based on a question-and-answer format, the handbook is divided into seven chapters: (1) Evaluating your superintendent (a summary…

Assessment in higher education is addressed in these proceedings of the 1987 conference of the North East Association for Institutional Research. Papers and authors include: "Assessing the Status of Assessment" (Peter T. Ewell); "Has the Middle Class Been Pressured the Most? Multivariate Analysis of Parental Contributions to Higher…

The College Outcomes Evaluation Program (COEP), intended to be a comprehensive assessment of higher education in New Jersey, focuses on outcomes in order to improve undergraduate education. After an introduction covering the national perspective, New Jersey's efforts, COEP, and rationale and principles, subcommittee reports summarize the content…

Results of a national study of budgetary control imposed upon 88 Ph.D. granting public universities by 49 state governments (excluding Alaska) are presented. A comparative analysis is provided of financial control practices in each state, along with an index that places these practices along a continuum. Information is included on the nature and…

This module, consisting of materials for use in conducting a consumer education mini-course, deals with effective consumerism. Covered in the individual lessons are the following topics: being prepared with information (sources of consumer information and subscription forms); evaluating warranties and service contracts; evaluating advertising and…

Quality as a political goal for public higher education is discussed, and its fuller acceptance at the state over the federal level is noted. Federal policy is driven by values associated with access, need, and equity. State leaders are using a rhetoric of quality and excellence, incentives for high achievement, rigor, and merit. One reason the…

The book discusses current issues and trends in special education programming at the secondary level. An introductory chapter by Cynthia L. Warger outlines service delivery program models and the range of curriculum content options. In Chapter 2, Janet Sansone focuses on the issue of accountability in secondary education as it relates to…

In 1972, the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia instituted the Regents' Testing Program (RTP) to provide systemwide information on the status of student competence in reading and writing and to provide a uniform means of identifying those students who fail to attain minimum levels of competence in these areas. Since 1972, some…

Important issues and technical problems related to assessing the financial health of colleges and universities are described, along with implications of financial health assessment for state policy-making. It is proposed that a distinction be made between the assessments of financial health and program success. Other issues that should be…

This paper examines the use of the peer review system in evaluating out-patient clinical services for a third-party payer seeking justification for payment of services. Peer review is defined as a process by which one professional, in an official capacity, makes a judgment about a co-professional in a matter involving professional functioning. The…

A survey of 118 school superintendents, principals, and board chairpersons in Washington State sought to discover their perceptions of the effects on the state's common schools of two accountability statutes--the 1977 Basic Education ACT (BEA) and the Student Learning Objectives (SLO) Law. The administrators were asked about the laws' effects on…

Governing bodies that are quasi-rational, representative, and democratic are accountable to those they govern in much the same way that social scientists are accountable to the academic community. Since they both appeal to rationality as the basis of their actions, governments and scientists must use epistemologically adequate procedures to…