Efforts to develop common higher education data standards are expanding both within and across countries. The institutional research (IR) community plays a critical role in assuring that these efforts capture the diverse manifestations of the postsecondary and tertiary education systems and promote responsible comparisons. This chapter provides…

The past 25 years have witnessed an ebb and flow of the accountability movement in the United States as national interest in and concern about the quality and effectiveness of higher education have moved in and out of the forefront of public consciousness. Today Democrats and Republicans alike are critical of higher education and calling for…

Summarizes the lessons learned by the institutions participating in the Urban Universities Portfolio Project regarding the functional and technological requirements for creating and sustaining Web-based institutional portfolios. The most pressing issues were those of aligning technology resources with analytical, evaluative, academic, and design…

Most decisions are made not by individuals but by groups. Knowing how the group process works and how information enters it can improve the quality of decisions, and can enhance the institutional researcher's role as data supplier and lead methodologist. (Author/MSE)

Five criteria for judging college or university performance indicators (PIs) used to guide strategic decision making are outlined. The criteria address: purpose; alignment of PIs throughout the organization or system; alignment of PIs across inputs, processes, and outcomes; capacity to accommodate a variety of evaluation methods; and utility in…

The history of performance indicators for evaluation of institutions of higher education in the United States and Europe is chronicled to provide a context for understanding the definitions and methods used to develop them. Performance indicators are defined and described in relation to other measures used for assessment of institutions, drawing…

This chapter uses a case study to develop a set of contexts and conditions for improving the alignment of purposes of alumni survey research within and across higher education institutions. (Contains 2 tables.)

A discussion of new technologies and strategies for monitoring college student progress identifies four stages of developing information systems: (1) problem definition and systems specification; (2) data extraction and synthesis; (3) data analysis; and (4) dissemination. Some trends in use of data sources, analysis types, tracking capabilities,…