Five projects intended to help develop national indicators of undergraduate learning in different disciplines use a variety of strategies and are reminders that reflective self-consciousness is an important characteristic of teaching faculty in any discipline. (MSE)

This monograph provides college academic administrators, institutional researchers, professional and learned societies, and academic advisors with information to improve understanding of the paths students take through engineering programs in higher education. The evidence used in this study comes principally from the 11-year college transcript…

Perspectives on characteristics of college curricula, their influence, and assessment are analyzed, based on a 1982 panel held for the National Commission on Excellence in Education. Discussion topics pertaining to programs and degrees included the proliferation of programs, the college credit hour, changing student constituencies, vocationalism…

Responses to national reports during October 1984 through May 1985 concerning the state of American higher education are analyzed. Quantitative content analysis and qualitative rehetorical criticism are used to examine responses to national reports. Three national reports are of concern: "Involvement in Learning,""A Nation at…

This monograph, based on college transcripts of 10,700 students included in the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 (NLS-72), examines how culturally literate is the generation that is now in its thirties and what people in that generation studied that exposed them to different cultures, societies, and intellectual…

Issues concerning the influence of college curricula are considered as part of a background briefing paper for a special panel of the National Commission on Excellence in Education. The objective was to examine features of contemporary college studies to determine what should be protected or changed to improve the quality of postsecondary…

Perspectives on the context and results of the investigation conducted by the National Commission on Excellence in Education are presented. It is noted that the Commission's analysis sought to determine the extent to which colleges fail to set and maintain high standards, and the extent to which they fail to make their measures and benchmarks of…

Issues concerning school/college programs and the transition to postsecondary education are discussed, based on program information provided to the National Commission on Excellence in Education. A major concern was the use of time allocated for learning between ninth grade and the attainment of a postsecondary credential. The college/school…

This paper reanalyzed existing transcript data from: (1) the Study of Academic Prediction and Growth (High School Class of 1969) ; and (2) the New Youth Cohort of the National Longitudinal Study of Labor Market Experience (High School Classes of 1975-1981) in terms of various measures of the quantity of schooling, and in relation to changes in…

This article argues that American colleges and universities must better prepare their students to meet the challenges of the global economy. Institutions need to place greater emphasis on foreign language skills, cultural awareness, student exchange programs, functional skills, and job placement. (MDM)