This article describes the synthesis of the NCATE PDS Standards, the NAPDS Nine Essentials and the CAEP Standards to create a rubric that can be used to help PDS stakeholders develop, refine, and evaluate their partnerships. Implications and future directions on how to use the rubric are also shared.

Benchmarking has traditionally been viewed as a way to compare data only; however, its utilisation as a more investigative, research-informed process to add rigor to decision-making processes at the institutional level is gaining momentum in the higher education sector. Indeed, with recent changes in the Australian quality environment from the…

A critical step in the professionalization of the field of leadership education (Komives, 2011) and the evolution of leadership as a field of study (International Leadership Association [ILA], 2009) is the development of best practices, standards of practice, and guidelines for assessment of quality in program delivery and accomplishment of…

This paper describes quality enhancement (QE) focused response to the 2006 National Student Survey (NSS) by a post-1992 Higher Education Institution. Recognising the increasing importance of the NSS to a wide range of stakeholders, the University established a task team to explore, from a QE perspective, why the institution received particular…

Assessing student attainment in the major field of study is increasingly important to employers and accrediting bodies alike. Construction and manufacturing firms do not like engineers who design faulty bridges and airplanes. Marketing firms want to hire students who understand the difference between a niche market and a global market. School…

The Associate Degree is a two year academic credential available with an Arts or Science focus. The British Columbia Council on Admissions and Transfer (BCCAT) initiated development of this provincial credential at the request of British Columbia's (BC's) public post-secondary institutions. In March 2003, BCCAT prepared a report detailing the…

Over the last decade the proportion of students in higher education obtaining aggregate marks over 60 per cent has steadily increased. Whilst standards of learning and teaching may have improved due to the existence of quality assurance agencies and the efforts of individual higher education institutions a significant factor remains that could…

In response to legislation eliminating race and gender as factors in admissions decisions, the University of California instituted a series of short- and long-range outreach strategies to recruit disadvantaged students, increase the number of underrepresented minorities in the eligibility pool, change the culture of secondary schools to promote…

The University of South Carolina is using assessment to bring about academic change in general education at several levels: the individual student; system-wide courses; and the entire general education program. The approach uses both qualitative and quantitative data, and has enabled faculty to collaborate both across disciplines and all eight…

Selected data drawn from national sources are statistically refined to construct a microcomputer-based model for monitoring academic quality and simulating the effects of management decisions. The method, illustrated for doctoral institutions here, can be used for colleges at any level, across institutions, and over time. (MSE)

American philanthropy, by local and national foundations, corporations, and wealthy individuals, has played many important roles in K-12 education: creating new schools, underwriting research, funding scholarships, testing hypotheses, generating new curricula, invoking ideals, setting agendas, bolstering training, and building a case for policy…

St. Norbert College's participation in an American Council on Education project on the use of student data for institutional planning and decision-making, and its use of student survey results to make administrative and academic policy changes for program improvement, are outlined and discussed. (MSE)

A research-oriented project to improve the effectiveness of undergraduate education at the state University of Antwerp, Belgium, is described, and the higher education system and conditions in Belgium are noted. Attention was focused on the outcome-based paradigm, according to which the primary goal of instruction is to ensure that all students…

Assessment can have a profound transformational impact on a college or university, but for this to occur, such core values as improvement of student learning through collection of performance-related data must be integrated into the institutional culture. At Truman State University (Missouri), an initially modest commitment to improving student…

Higher education assessment, evaluation, and accreditation in Georgia are addressed in these proceedings of a 1986 conference sponsored by the University of Georgia and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). Panel papers cover: assessing student performance and outcomes, academic standards and needs assessment for specific…