The President of the University of Cincinnati charged the Academic Coordinating Committee (ACC), a universitywide governance body, to conduct a comprehensive review of degree programs by designing a process with multiple outcomes: building an academically stronger university; ensuring consistency with the institution's capacity and academic…

In today's accountability climate, regional accrediting bodies are requiring colleges and universities to develop and sustain a culture of evidence-based decision making and improvement. But two-thirds of college presidents in a 2011 "Inside Higher Ed" survey said their institutions are not particularly strong at using data for making decisions.…

Despite their apparent popularity among those seeking degrees and credentials, today's colleges and universities face several interrelated public criticisms and concerns. When these competing concerns about student success, productivity, cost, and educational effectiveness all collide at the campus level, they create an array of campus tensions…

Describes an institutional research office's establishment of an outcomes-oriented self-assessment model rooted in the college's mission and goals. Reports that the framework enables institutional research departments to evaluate their effectiveness, and more importantly, to use the results of self-assessment to plan future activities, thereby…

A case history is presented that recounts the evolutionary development of a unified evaluation, budgeting, and planning system at Michigan State University. It is a system that is strongly based on the collection and analysis of department, college, and institutional data. (Author/MLW)

This paper describes the success one institution achieved by placing a faculty committee at the heart of its effort to create an electronic institutional portfolio for accreditation, accountability, and assessment. Working in partnership with the institutional research office, the committee provided faculty opportunities to think about and discuss…

Discusses the strategic importance of institutional research in open universities in order to stay competitive with other more traditional universities. Suggests that a wide range of staff should be encouraged to conduct research based on reflective practice and emphasizes the need to conform to appropriate methodological and ethical standards.…

The conference program and the texts of 24 papers presented at the conference are provided in this document. Selected papers include: "The Use of the College Student Experience Questionnaire in Policy and Program Development" (Karen Bauer and Dale Trusheim); "Predicting Freshman Performance as Admissions Criteria" (David Zubrow); "Has the Middle…

Designed as a forum for the exchange of information among members of the National Council for Research and Planning, these two journal issues offer 10 articles concerning community college research and planning. The first issue presents: (1) "Just Testing," by Arthur M. Cohen; (2) "Enrollment Patterns of Adult Learning in a Community College," by…

The Appalachian Developing Institutions Consortium, consisting of eight two-year institutions in western North Carolina, evaluates its four major programs through internal evaluation teams as well as externally through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The four programs involve student recruitment, comprehensive support services,…

This paper reviews and synthesizes the literature on institutional support for student assessment, offering an organizing framework for using this information to shape institutional policies, processes, and practices in ways that lead to both improved student performance and institutional functioning. The framework, first, involves the overall…

Stressing the importance of the relationship of vocational and technical education to the economy, this paper discusses how existing educational research and development (R&D) resources can assist in preparing for the computer literate, high technology, information society. After emphasizing the magnitude of the education and training industry,…

This paper introduces, as a new, relevant, technique for use in institutional research and planning, the concept of paradigms as presented by J. A. Barker. The paper uses as examples of these concepts analysis of two major problems, frequently found in higher education and institutional research and planning. These examples illustrate how outsider…

In an effort to cross boundaries and make connections between theory, research, and academic planning, Prince George's Community College in Maryland (PGCC) and the University of Maryland University College's Institute for Research on Adults in Higher Education (IRAHE) developed a partnership using national and institutional research to link theory…

This paper illustrates how planning, with the aid (or complicity) of institutional research, can be a revolutionary activity that facilitates change within an organization and brings the organization to a more accurate understanding of itself. It describes the use of strategic planning at Minot State University (North Dakota) to change a culture…