The Commonwealth of Learning is proud to partner with the Sri Lankan Ministry of Higher Education and UNESCO to produce this "Quality Assurance Toolkit for Distance Higher Education Institutions and Programmes". The Toolkit has been prepared with three features. First, it is a generic document on quality assurance, complete with a…

The Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS) supports the concept that periodic evaluation entered into voluntarily by institutions and their peers enhances the quality of the educational process and demonstrates that self regulation of a profession is superior to outside regulation. The federal government, for purposes of…

The College of Education Assessment Infrastructure Survey was developed and administered to 1011 institutions over a 12-month period ending April 2007. The survey examined the capacity of university-based teacher preparation programs to respond to the growing and increasingly complex data management requirements that accompanies assessment and…

The present report follows an ENQA (European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education) Workshop on Quality Assurance and Postgraduate Education, hosted by the Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ARACIS) in Brasov, Romania on 12-13 March 2009. The workshop was an excellent opportunity for ENQA members to exchange…

This article reports findings from 39 interviews from two Hong Kong universities and offers a critique of the RAE system. Respondents stated that the main emphasis in counting research productivity was on articles in prestigious international journals. There were many negative comments about this as the main quality indicator. Some respondents…

Knowledge management (KM) and data-driven decision making (DDDM) are terms that are used with more frequency in teacher education. Although accreditation expectations and the increased focus on accountability have pushed these ideas to the forefront, the tools that support them are still not robust. Electronic portfolio assessment has been one…

Based on psychological contract theory and expectancy disconfirmation theory, we posit that if employers support their staff by endorsing their continuing education and training, these employees will in turn be more satisfied and will perform better not only in their studies but also in their jobs. We also propose that such an endorsement will…

Discusses a survey of administrators and accreditation association personnel to determine factors affecting the selection of particular formats/instruments for accreditation self-studies. The most commonly cited factors were previous experience and familiarity; the belief that self-study instruments are essentially the same; and an accreditation…

Denotes the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools' fundamental alteration of the purposes and standards of accreditation in 1931-34. Offers introductory comments on the "Symposium on Accreditation," held in April 1987 to once again examine the foundations of accreditation. (DMM)

Identifies the characteristics of effective staff development programs. Considers the ways in which staff development goals are achieved in the self-study phase, team visit, follow-up/implementation phase, and progress reporting stage of accreditation. (DMM)

Discusses the evaluation and accreditation of postsecondary institutions. Considers the varieties of institutions accredited by the North Central Association and the criteria applied to candidates for accreditation status. Lists members of the Commission's executive board. (DMM)

Shows the importance of involving governing boards in forming student programs and policies. Provides suggestions for achieving this involvement for various kinds of campuses and governing structures and details how this has been accomplished at a small, independent, private college. (Author/ABB)

Discusses the evaluation and accreditation of postsecondary institutions. Considers the varieties of institutions accredited by the North Central Association and the criteria applied to candidates for accreditation status. Lists members of the commission's executive board. (AYC)

This booklet provides information about the accreditation of higher education institutions by the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. It also identifies and responds to frequently asked questions about accreditation and lists resources available from the Commission. The North…

This book provides practical guidelines that personnel in an individual school can use in evaluating programs. It is fundamentally a book about winning. The current emphasis on test results as the single most important indicator of a school's effectiveness heightens the need for students, administrators, and staff to feel the pride that…