Educational disparities are frequently framed in racial comparisons that are based on data generated by sorting and counting racial subgroups. Our reliance on these data, and the sorting and counting mechanisms entailed therein, is fundamental to debates about racial inequalities. What is largely ignored in achievement gap discourse is how racial…

To ensure optimal standards for AAFCS program accreditation, the Council for Accreditation (CFA) conducted a review and revision of the "2001 AAFCS Standards for Accreditation." The CFA took a three-pronged approach including (a) a review of academic accreditations that had relationships to the FCS disciplines, (b) concept, content, and process…

This issue of "Assessment Update" presents the following articles: (1) Closing the Loop: How an Assessment Project Paved the Way for GE Reform (Joan Hawthorne and Anne Kelsch); (2) Value-Added? Committing to Quality: Guidelines for Assessment and Accountability in Higher Education (David C. Paris); (3) Creating a Cadre of Assessment…

In the literature of higher education cost function study, enough knowledge is created in the area of economy scale in the context of developed countries but the knowledge of input demand is lacking. On the other hand, empirical knowledge in the context of developing countries is very meagre. The paper fills up the knowledge gap, estimating a…

The findings of a cultural industries skills audit undertaken in 2008 in Katherine, Northern Territory, are explored. The case study focusses in particular on the practical challenges and implications of auditing skills in a diverse industry sector and considers the usefulness of such an audit in preparing an industry for predicted change. This…

When Robert D. Felner applied to become dean of education at the University of Louisville in 2003, he carried a genuinely impressive vita. But two of the most recent large grants listed on that vita could not have survived close scrutiny--and it isn't clear that Louisville's search committee scrutinized them at all. First, the impressive part:…

Distance educators won't have to become FBI-style investigators, installing cameras in the homes of online students and scanning fingerprints to ensure that people are who they say they are. At least not yet. The recently reauthorized Higher Education Opportunity Act requires accreditors to monitor steps colleges take to verify that an enrolled…

The federal government could take a cue from its regulation of charitable organizations in monitoring the freewheeling fiscal habits of big-time college athletics, a leading tax lawyer says. The author reports on the ideas offered by John D. Colombo, a professor at the University of Illinois College of Law, for monitoring big spending on college…

In a daylong meeting broadcast online this month, David B. Ashley, the president of the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, was repeatedly grilled, and then publicly demoted, during a contentious gathering of the university system's Board of Regents. The dressing-down followed months of public disputes over the conduct of Mr. Ashley's wife and…

College governing boards are becoming more effective and engaged but continue to fall short in some areas, according to survey results released today by the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges. The association's survey of almost 700 public and private colleges, conducted last year and described as the first detailed…

Purpose: Concerns for information security in e-learning systems have been raised previously. In the pursuit for better authentication approaches, few schools have implemented students' authentication during online exams beyond passwords. This paper aims to assess e-learners' intention to provide multibiometric data and use of multibiometrics…

No Child left Behind, The ESEA Flexibility Program, and the Race to the Top contest have spurred a multitude of School Improvement programs, businesses, initiatives and more. The current emphasis on standardized testing, data gathering and analysis, and measuring effective schooling has caused many education agencies, state and local, to seek…

The Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) mandated that GAO conduct a study on Education's enforcement of the incentive compensation ban in light of the safe harbors and report on the number of violations substantiated by the Secretary of Education since 1998, the nature of these violations, and the names of the institutions involved. This…

Making the right decisions at the right time is critical. Following through on those decisions is challenging and can take courage. One example of a group of institutions and facility management professionals stepping up to the task and having the courage to challenge the status quo is the State of Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning…

Not for the first time in its history, the UK Higher Education sector finds itself in a position of significant financial constraint. The current coalition Government's actions to address the budget deficit have led to sweeping cuts across many public sector departments, but it is higher education that has seen the most draconian reduction in…