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.…

Evaluative statements from alumni have legitimacy with both internal and external stakeholders. Thus, alumni studies can provide valuable evidence of institutional effectiveness and lend themselves to both locally designed and commercial survey instruments for data collection. Under ideal conditions, the results of alumni studies equip faculty and…

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…

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…

"Building Institutional Capacity for Data-Informed Decision Making" is the third installment of the Cutting Edge series, which aims to help colleges engage faculty, scale successful interventions, and create a strong culture of evidence through use of data to strengthen their institutional change and student success efforts. Though the…

In both purpose and practice, general education in American higher education has experienced several recurring debates and national revivals. In a world with constantly evolving technology, students need a strong general education to be flexible and adaptable to the changes of the world. General education is an important component and requirement…

A diverse society has created a diverse education system, which in turn requires diverse and complex mechanisms of quality control. The diversity and complexity of the industrial, service, and knowledge-based economy, with its vast variety of occupations and dynamic labor markets, heavily influences the curricular structures and academic profiles…

A system for raising productivity in higher education institutions is proposed, based on two theories used to explain the tendency of unit costs to rise. Emphasis is on combining clear goals, accountability, and incentives with an experimental approach. An institutional research strategy for implementation is outlined. (MSE)

Successful implementation of assessment requires effective administrative leadership to get started, convert data to information, and use the information in making improvements. Assessment may pay its greatest long-term dividends as an organizational device for directing scarce reserves of institutional attention to teaching and learning. (MLW)

Risks inherent in using the value-added model to assess institutional effectiveness are discussed, including instructional bias favoring test content, overemphasis on test results, differential interpretations of results, and ethical issues related to the use of student records. (MSE)

Northeast Missouri State University's Value-Added Student Assessment grew from the idea that an institution should be able to determine the value added to a person as he or she proceeds through the educational system, as measured by student output performances. This provides accountability to the students, faculty, staff, and external…

Proceedings of the 1983 conference of the North East Association for Institutional Research are presented. The contribution of institutional research to university decision making and the topics of student outcomes assessment, retention/attrition studies, marketing/market research, departmental studies, computer and technological applications, and…

The essays in this collection examine the outcomes or benefits of community colleges with respect to specific constituencies; discuss the impact of the policies, programs, and needs of external agencies on the colleges; and consider methods by which educational outcomes can be improved and measured within the institutional setting. After…

The use of outcomes research as a marketing tool for postsecondary educational institutions is discussed. Few such institutions integrate outcomes information into the institutional marketing program. In most cases this type of information is used to document actual outcomes, but rarely is it used as an indicator of needed change or success of the…

The Free University of Amsterdam's system of internal institutional evaluation uses specific achievement measures at various levels in each field of study to assess student progress and evaluate program effectiveness. (MSE)