This chapter describes how assessment of co-curricular student learning outcomes can be used as part of the institutional accreditation process and the opportunities institutional researchers and student affairs educators have to collaborate in those efforts.

Surveys and benchmarks continue to grow in importance for community colleges in response to several factors. One is the press for accountability, that is, for colleges to report the outcomes of their programs and services to demonstrate their quality and prudent use of resources, primarily to external constituents and governing boards at the state…

This article describes the Voluntary Support for Education (VSE) Survey, an instrument created by the Council for Aid to Education. Our objective is to explain VSE's potential value as a tool to inform both institutional and academic research regarding fund-raising activities at community colleges. Of particular interest is how the data available…

This is the final report in Casey's "Closing the Achievement Gap" series that highlights stories, results, and lessons learned from more than a decade of education investing. This publication presents an overview of the Foundation's support to four organizations, each of which targeted technical assistance to a specific audience. It summarizes…

This study explores two specific cases of institutional mergers in the field of higher education. The two cases took place in China in the 1990s. One of the cases might be labeled a vertical merger and the other a horizontal merger. The former simply implies a merger between higher education institutions with equal status and the same level of…

Achieving the Dream colleges engage in a process of institutional improvement to increase student success. A central component of this process is engaging internal and external stakeholders to help develop and implement interventions or changes in programs and services that improve student success. To determine whether these interventions do…

This chapter examines lessons learned by states that are using student unit record (SUR) data to improve outcomes for community college students and recommends steps states can take to strengthen their use of SUR databases to benefit students and communities. (Contains 1 exhibit.)

A collaborative partnership has evolved between the Riverina Environmental Education Centre (REEC) and Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga. The Riverina Environmental Education Centre (REEC) is one of 24 Department of Education and Training environmental education centres in New South Wales (see www.reec.nsw.edu.au). As part of this…

This is a story of transformation at Sheffield Hallam University, UK. It describes the progress and thinking along the path to introducing the university's vision of sustainability since the conclusion of EMSU 1999. It describes how sustainable practice has been incorporated within the formal democratic structures of the university, and describes…

This article describes and analyzes institutional and college efforts at the University of Wyoming (UW) to address diversity issues and promote multicultural perspectives in a variety of contexts. The UW college of education (COE), a focus of the article, is engaged in strategic efforts to make the preparation of teachers a university-wide…

A discussion of the performance indicator system used at the University of Wisconsin to provide feedback to stakeholders and encourage continuous improvement of services includes background on the system's context and development, legislative and governing board involvement, resulting recommendations, and three examples of specific accountability…

The American Institutes for Research's (AID's) International Development Program (IDP) seeks to enhance the capacity of developing countries to improve the quality of life through education and social development. Its work is based on a strong belief in the transformative power of education--that by providing children the opportunity to learn and…

Results of an undergraduate evaluation questionnaire administered to majors in 14 social science-related departments and programs at the University of California, Berkeley, are presented. Data are offered in tabular and textual formats. The document is presented in two major sections. Section I summarizes social science-related programs and offers…

The budget, purposes, staffing, and outcomes of Chaffey Community College's Educational Marketing Program (EMP) are summarized in this report. The paper first delineates EMP allocations for salaries, benefits, supplies, contracted services, and capital outlay. Major program objectives are then outlined: to enhance Chaffey's image, to increase…

The development of a complex, highly computerized system of performance indicators by the State University of New York provides the means to monitor internal progress, report to a skeptical public, and compare the system's performance with a national sample of institutions. The system is described here, and the performance indicators and data…