Considers whether information about outcomes can improve what and how things are done on campus, and whether improvements provide information that can help make important changes to strengthen programs and services. The University of Missouri-Columbia addressed these questions and this paper provides some of the answers they discovered.…

Much progress has been made in efforts to conduct, support, value, and use the scholarship of teaching and learning in higher education. Nevertheless, to further enhance student learning, many challenges remain. (Contains 1 table.)

This chapter demonstrates how institutional researchers at institutions of higher education can use economic theory for enrollment management. (Contains 4 figures.)

The authors construct and respond to several questions about changing administrative costs for new Research I Universities, a group of institutions that might be expected to incur new costs as a result of their new status. Using IPEDS data, the study provides mixed support for the claim that universities reaching the pinnacle of research…

This study examines the variables that are the most strongly associated with institutional prestige and reputation and presents an exploratory model. This research expands earlier efforts by including more recent data on larger populations of public and private universities, as well as on liberal arts colleges. The analysis draws upon data from…

While many studies have examined nonresponse in student surveys, little research investigates why some schools achieve higher student survey response rates than other schools. Using hierarchical linear modeling, we analyze survey data from 321 institutions that participated in the 2003 National Survey of Student Engagement to understand how…

The Breakthrough High Schools (BTHS) project involved 25 high schools nationwide, each with a student population of at least 50% under-represented minority students and a minimum of 50% of students qualifying for free or reduced-price meals. And yet, at least 90% of all their students graduated from high school and were accepted into a…

This report sets forth the National Endowment for the Humanities' goals and objectives and highlights its related accomplishments for the year just concluded. Also included in the report is information on the Endowment's finances and operations during the year.

Facilities that self-police under the Environmental Protection Agency's Audit Policy are eligible for reduced penalties on disclosed violations. This paper investigates whether self-policing has additional consequences; in particular, whether self-policing reduces future enforcement activity. Using data on U.S. hazardous waste enforcement and…

Findings from an analysis of the characteristics and services of community rehabilitation providers (CRPs) in the early years of the 21st century are presented. Services provided by CRPs can be categorized along two dimensions: purpose (work, nonwork) and setting (facility-based, community). The number of individuals with disabilities present…

This report is designed to keep you up-to-date on APA's priorities, ongoing activities, and annual special events. This issue contains APA Directorate reports, the President's report, and the Treasurer's report.

The value of qualitative assessment approaches has been underestimated primarily because they are often juxtaposed against long-standing quantitative traditions and the widely accepted premise that the best research produces generalizable and statistically significant findings. Institutional researchers avoid qualitative methods for at least three…

The construct validity of scores on the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire (SACQ) was examined using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The purpose of this study was to test the fit of the SACQ authors' proposed four-factor model using a sample of university students. Results indicated that the hypothesized model did not fit. Additional…

The NEAIR (North East Association for Institutional Research) 2011 Conference Proceedings is a compilation of papers presented at the Boston, Massachusetts conference. Papers in this document include: (1) Are Students Dropping Out or Dragging Out the College Experience? The Roles of Socioeconomic Status and Academic Background (Leslie S. Stratton…

Institutional research (IR) in Latin America is experiencing dramatic growth due, in no small measure, to the need for quality assurance in educational institutions developing trained workforces for emerging economies. Quality can be assured only where it can be measured, and that is at the core of institutional research in countries to the south…