The heightened interest in college program review is traced to a widespread interest in improving educational quality and the need to respond creatively to financial constraints and external expectations for accountability. Current program reviews have also been designed to aid in decision making about resource reallocation and program discontinuance. Most academic program reviews draw on one or more of several formal evaluation models: goal-based, responsive, decision-making, or connoisseurship models. The underlying objective of quality is defined by four different perspectives: the reputational view, the resources view, the outcomes view, and the value-added view. Most institutions assess quality by adopting aspects of all four views. The continued existence and growth of program review processes suggest that the efforts are supported and that the results can be beneficial, but more systematic study of their effects is needed. (LB)