This paper describes the level and nature of Title I Evaluation Technical Assistance services provided in 14 western states over the past six years. The primary data source is the routine information collected by the Technical Assistance Center (TAC) on all contacts with clients. Points made as a result of this review are focused on what the data…

In the midst of insistent demands for accountability, self-analysis by all educational institutions has become an urgent necessity. Long-range, comprehensive planning is an essential prerequisite for coping effectively with the rapid changes taking place in education, and institutional research is an essential element in such planning. For an…

The research administrator's role is changing rapidly and becoming more demanding. Training will be restructured to promote professionalism, and administrators should spend some time considering their profession's nature and purposes. Four tasks are proposed: safeguarding staff's creative time, getting long-term resource commitments, fostering…

The need to consider teaching evaluation criteria within the social structural and normative background within which college teaching takes place is discussed, along with the need to consider the substantive content of the criteria. In research-oriented American universities many feel that one cannot be promoted for teaching because institutional…

The current malaise in social science education research is the result of a stalemate between social studies educators and their research activities at the university level: (1) The social studies educator is not held accountable for research as for teaching courses or supervising student teachers. (2) "Research" is so loosely defined that one can…

This volume contains an edited transcript of the Rockefeller Institute's October 29, 2007 symposium (Chicago, IL) entitled "Intergovernmental Approaches to Strengthen K-12 Accountability Systems" as well as a framework paper circulated in preparation for the symposium. The transcript begins with a list of the forty state and federal education…

This paper examines issues and areas of concern for the educational researcher moving from the relative safety of academic research to the more perilous arena of practice-oriented or action-oriented qualitative research. The first question is one of purity or objectivity: giving credibility to research results by imposing adequate rigor on methods…

There is a growing sense of frustration among members of the science education research community that results from the fact that the impact of research in science education on classroom practice has been disappointing. In this theoretical paper, the questions of relevance and accountability in science education research are first reviewed and…

Expectations and roles of institutional researchers in higher education institutions are considered, as well as the question of what a research office should expect from its institution. A performance monitoring system for the assessment and continuous improvement of institutional research is also proposed. Ways that institutional research can be…

This study investigated the opinions of college faculty and administrators regarding the purpose, control, and process of performance evaluation, hypothesizing that job orientations and expectations would influence their opinions--that administrators would favor an economic model emphasizing authoritative and quantitative measures; teachers would…

The British experience of nationwide research quality assessments and new measures to improve accountability are described. Consequences for the higher education system and for individual institutions are examined. Three national assessments of the quality of research in the United Kingdom (U.K.) in 1986, 1989, and 1992 have provided a standard…

The roles of institutional researchers in the overall goal setting and monitoring process were studied in 1982. In addition, the use of databases and new technology (e.g., computer models and planning aids, information retrieval systems, and national databases) as support mechanisms for assessment of institutional performance, and the methods used…

An attempt is made to identify potential sources of value conflicts or dilemmas faced by faculty members. Limitations inherent in our understanding of the academic profession are suggested, and the role of the individual faculty member is analyzed. A typology of the academic profession developed by Donald Light is considered. Light concludes that…

The recent conceptualization of organizations as "open" adaptive systems rather than "closed" systems has lead to increased interest in the relationship between the organization and its significant environmental influences. In order to study the perceived sources of internal (organizational) and external (environmental)…

Observations are made on the relationship of institutional viability and faculty research productivity in pharmaceutical education. Issues discussed include keeping faculty current and the curriculum contemporary, technological advancement, and the relationship of teaching and research in pharmaceutical education. (MSE)