In response to a legislative imperative that all public higher education institutions in Virginia develop and implement a program to measure student learning and to use the results of evaluations for the improvement of instruction and the curriculum, the Virginia community colleges have either initiated or completed a number of student assessment…

Although Pennsylvania's Long Range Planning for School Improvement (LRPSI) assumes linkage between school improvement and school compliance with state-mandated registration process guidelines, the extent to which the newly mandated evaluation/registration process will actually contribute to substantive school improvement and a rebuilding of public…

The process developed and implemented by the Eastern Iowa Community College District (EICCD) to evaluate its vocational and technical programs is described. The process provides for the flow of information and recommendations from the faculty through administrative ranks to the Chancellor of the District. The EICCD is comprised of three colleges…

This self-study accreditation report assesses the achievement of the objectives of Ohio Valley College (OVC), an independent liberal arts college with a strong emphasis on promoting Christian spiritual values. After chapter 1 provides descriptive and historical data about the school and its accreditation, chapter 2 defines the educational task and…

A new approach to academic management is described that combines innovative techniques of planning, resource management, and evaluation to enable administrators to respond more effectively to challenges of the present and future. Chapter 1 describes the challenges facing higher education: (1) protecting and enhancing institutional quality; (2)…

The case, "New Jersey v. Shelton College," is analyzed using the briefs of both parties, the judicial opinions, and the relevant literature. The case is a classic church-state confrontation likely to reach the U.S. Supreme Court. The college is an instructional offshoot of the fundamentalist Bible Presbyterian Church. In 1971, after a…

A study was conducted at the City University of New York (CUNY) to identify the variables that distinguish students who persist through their first and into their second year of college from those who drop out along the way. Retention survey forms were sent to 2,063 students admitted to career programs in fall 1979 and to 3,291 students admitted…

The early history of Bennington College, Vermont, beginning with initial endeavors by Vincent Ravi Booth in 1923, is examined. Topics include: granting of a satisfactory charter to the college; the role of educators such as Amy Kelly and William Heard Kilpatrick in initial curriculum recommendations; electing Robert Devore Leigh as president;…

Institutional vitality in higher education and measures of vitality are considered. Vitality may be viewed as the capacity of a college or university to incorporate organizational strategies that support the continuing investment of energy by faculty and staff both in their own careers and in the realization of the institution's mission.…

The work of the Temporary Commission on the Future of Postsecondary Education in New York State is analyzed in this paper. Known as the Wessell Commission, it was created in June 1976 when the City University of New York (CUNY) was closed for lack of operating funds. Legislation permitting CUNY to reopen contained a provision for the comprehensive…

A pilot project in performance funding at Tennessee Tech University is described. The pilot project was part of a statewide "Performance Funding Project" sponsored by the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC). The Performance Funding Project was designed to improve the formula appropriations process by determining the feasibility…

The components and objectives of North Central Technical College's Planning, Management, and Evaluation System (PME) are presented as a model upon which college administrators can relate institutional goals with societal needs. The report first describes the two-year planning process through which ad hoc committees made up of students, faculty,…

The emerging status of undergraduate business education in the United States was studied through a 1978 survey of deans of American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) accredited undergraduate business programs, personnel executives from the largest U.S. corporations, and directors of AACSB accredited master of business…

This four-part report presents the findings of a study conducted by the San Diego Community College District (SDCCD) to assess methods of effecting savings in energy usage at college facilities, to determine curricular areas in which energy-related instruction could be increased, and to examine ways of saving energy through scheduling and…

The conditions under which the effectiveness of a university grants operation is potentially maximized are described. The following topics are addressed: the attitudes to be adopted by university administrators in grants operations, the functions of the institutional grants office, and the qualities needed in a campus coordinator of research. The…