The media has recently exposed that grade inflation is a concern for higher education in North America. Grade inflation may be due to consumerism by universities that now compete for students. Keeping students happy (and paying) may have been emphasized more than learning. We review the literature on faculty evaluation and present a model that…

The prevalent use of student ratings in teaching evaluations, particularly the reliability of such data, has been debated for many years. Reports in the literature indicate that there are many factors influencing student perceptions of teaching. Three of these factors were investigated at the University of Western Australia, namely the broad…

In this article, the author echoes his co-author's and colleague's pleasure (Hill, this issue) at the thoughtfulness and far-ranging nature of the comments to their initial attempts at test validation for the mathematical knowledge for teaching (MKT) measures using the validity argument approach. Because of the large number of commentaries they…

Remedial or developmental courses are the most common policy instruments used to assist underprepared postsecondary students who are not ready for college-level coursework. However, despite its important role in higher education and its substantial costs, there is little rigorous evidence on the effectiveness of college remediation on the outcomes…

This guide provides advice on effective use of assessments in adult basic and literacy education programs. Chapter 1 considers different types of standardized tests, their purposes, their advantages and limitations, misuses of standardized tests, and other types of assessments. Chapter 2 on informal assessments defines alternative and informal…

A meta-analysis of 35 interventions to reduce diagnostic testing revealed that testing was reduced overall by 17.6%. Stronger effects were found for immediate reductions (31.7%) compared to reduction at follow-up times (18.7%) and stronger effects were found for interventions targeted at specific tests (23.2%) compared to interventions designed to…

The National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL) is addressing problems of evaluation of family literacy programs through portfolio assessment. Beginning in fall 1991, 15 programs began using portfolios to document parent-child interactions. This guide provides a description of the introduction of portfolio assessment into these programs and…

The Texas Education Agency prepares school report cards (SRCs) as part of its academic excellence indicator system (AEIS) of local school accountability. The SRCs are used for evaluating campuses, determining accreditation status, and identifying and rewarding campuses for outstanding performance. Condensing the complex data into the few…

The problems and accomplishments of a program to evaluate the Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) program at Walsh College in Canton (Ohio) are described. The college-wide writing program began in 1987 with training workshops for faculty. Stage 1 of the program ended in 1988 with a summative evaluation and the development of a handbook to be used…

A survey of instructional, administrative, and policy-level personnel who participated in needs assessment studies in 12 Florida school districts revealed several problems in the use of the discrepancy model in needs assessment. Nine of the district studies focused on instructional needs, such as basic skills or early childhood education; two…

This report discusses a multiphase project to develop a user-oriented survey of prior accomplishments of graduate student applicants to aid admissions committees and graduate departments in the selection process. The three phases included: (1) development of three prototype instruments based on a checklist approach, a semi-documented approach, and…

This chapter addresses developments concerning faculty tenure, examines institutional responses to new pressures and the litigation by faculty over those reponses, and explores faculty and administration rights and responsibilities. Academic administrators have realized that the reappointment, tenure, and promotion processes are an opportunity to…

This investigation sought to determine the extent to which examiners' evaluations of writing performance were influenced by the learning disability label and to identify mediating variables which modify expectancy effects. Forty-four preservice regular education teachers were randomly assigned to one of two expectancy conditions (learning-disabled…

Although methodological integrity is not the sole determinant of the value of a program evaluation, decision-makers do have a right, at a minimum, to be able to expect competent work from evaluators. This paper explores five areas where evaluators might improve methodological practices. First, evaluation reports should reflect the limited…

This report reviews the benchmarking practices that are presently being used at community colleges. It introduces the concept of a "culture of inquiry" as a means for judging their potential value. It classifies benchmarking efforts among three types--performance, diagnostic, and process--and characterizes each by its typical use. The…