This book is intended to provide consistent and reliable quantitative and qualitative information on faculty productivity and accountability to help counter criticism and accurately describe what faculty do to the policy makers and/or the general public. It reports on a study at the University of Delaware that focused on instructional costs and faculty productivity at the academic discipline level of analysis and notes how institutions, system administrations, and governing boards are using the Delaware data to make better decisions. The opening chapter examines earlier institutional and national efforts to define and describe faculty activity and delineates the shortcomings in those approaches. The following six chapters address the following topics: (1) responding to public pressure for systematic accountability; (2) a quantitative perspective on productivity and accountability; (3) measuring productivity - what about quality? (4) laying the groundwork for dependable productivity benchmarks; (5) using quantitative benchmarking data; and (6) establishing qualitative benchmarks in individual departments. A concluding chapter considers efforts to create a cost model and contributions of the Delaware study to such a model. Three appendices provide technical details for the Delaware study. (Contains 44 references.) (DB)