When student affairs professionals assess their work, they often employ some type of survey. The use of surveys stems from a desire to objectively measure outcomes, a demand from someone else (e.g., supervisor, accreditation committee) for data, or the feeling that numbers can provide an aura of competence. Although surveys are effective tools for…

Describes a study done by Herbert White that resulted in rankings of library and information science programs based on perceptual assessments by faculty and library directors. Problems with this methodology are discussed, and further findings based on extensive interviews with subjects of the White study are reported. (CLB)

The problems existing during the reorganization of the Cleveland School District into a unitary administration are presented from the perspective of the head of the Research and Analysis Department. The district had been fighting a desegregation case for 9 years and operating in a receivership with a triple bureaucracy imposed upon it (the normal…

This technical manual describes the School Assessment Survey (SAS), a multidimensional questionnaire that uses teachers' perceptions to measure key organizational characteristics of a school. Developed to take advantage of recent developments in organizational theory and school effectiveness research, the SAS instrument can be used to identify…