This article is a reflection of the author's experiences teaching a course titled 'Women In Islam' [WIS] in an English Department at a medium, public, Masters granting, Liberal Arts university in the Midwestern United States. This paper argues for the importance of teaching WIS through a multi-genre, interdisciplinary, and global approach. The…

Sets forth and elaborates on three ways in which an external review can always help an English department. Suggests three principles a chair might keep in mind in trying to fulfill departmental goals by means of an outside review. Examines how a chair and his or her department may facilitate an outside review. (TB)

What are the relationships between policy and evaluation within state departments of education? How does policy influence what is evaluated in such settings and how does evaluation inform policymaking? Directors of evaluation in six state education agencies address these issues through detailed descriptions of their operations: Gordon Ascher,…

Describes how the English Department at Loyola University of Chicago, adopted assessment measures beneficial to the department's program and acceptable to administrators, faculty, and students. (TB)

Focuses on the case of an untenured assistant professor being proposed for promotion to tenured associate professor. Offers three essential steps for the department to take in evaluating the candidate for reappointment or tenure and in recommending the candidate to other committees and the dean. (PRA)

Despite the movement in dentistry toward a system of professional peer review, dental educators appear highly resistant to evaluation by their colleagues. The University of Maryland Dental School has a comprehensive evaluation system involving evaluation of courses and instruction by students, program evaluations by individual departments, formal…

Discusses ways program administrators can do a better job of justifying their curricula in light of high costs and limited enrollments. Describes procedures used at Community College of Philadelphia for assessing new programs (the comprehensive feasibility study) and determining the success of existing programs (the academic audit). (DMM)

This synthesis of six commissioned papers on state education agency evaluation practices describes the sources of influence or factors affecting the context of their evaluation practices. Evaluation is viewed as testing, management, and policy formation conducted within a highly complex social setting. (PN)

Discusses the challenge of answering governmental calls for assessment and the necessity of maintaining disciplinary integrity. Suggests that there are virtues and values worth considering in the development of assessment mechanisms for English departments. (TB)

It is argued that foreign language study has failed to secure a central place in the American curriculum partly because of a lack of articulation from elementary through university studies, possibly because of a lack of universally accepted methods for assessing language development. Department chairs are encouraged to recreate an articulated…

Institutional retrenchment is an on-going process in academia. So that crises can be avoided in the retrenchment process, every institution should develop processes both for the continual review of units by faculty colleagues and to ensure faculty participation in the management of the institution. Decisions about retrenchment should be based on…

Presents a report of the Association of Departments of English's (ADE) investigation of issues and procedures concerning assessment in English departments. Offers advice to educators, based on information from department chairs and colleagues. (TB)

Program review is essential for long-range planning, financial accountability, and self-validation. One option for dealing with the limitations of many program review models is a mini-accreditation approach to assess the extent of goal attainment within a broad category of activities or outcomes. All members of the department being reviewed should…

Two issues in the Holtzman Project bear examination and reconsideration: (1) the recommendation for the use of field experiments as an exclusive "authorized" evaluation design, and (2) the focus on the needs of the federal client, and the apparent lack of concern for clients at the state and local levels. (GC)

Summarizes a report from Northwestern University that reviewed Federal evaluation practices of federally supported educational programs at the national, state, and local levels. Considers: (1) evaluation purposes and methods; (2) evaluators' capabilities; (3) use of evaluation results; and (4) ways that evaluation procedures/practices can be…