Noting that our field is minimally relevant to the multitude of ways the American public is engaged in leisure and recreation, Samdahl delves into our history in attempt to understand how this came about. She notes that the recreation movement as canonized in our textbooks ignores parallel efforts that led to community theaters, libraries, and…

This paper is a case study. It tells the story of the process that the Council on Accreditation for Parks, Recreation, Tourism and Related Professions beta test site created its learning outcomes assessment program. A planning process was used that has evolved from quality management philosophy and practice: DMADV. Use of DMADV required precise…

The Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) adopted recognition standards in 2006 requiring regional and professional accreditors such as the Council on Accreditation of Park, Recreation, Tourism, and Related Professions (COAPRT) to adopt standards and practices advancing academic quality, demonstrating accountability, and encouraging…

Institutions of higher education are increasingly being held more accountable for assessing student learning both in and out of their classrooms along with reporting results to their stakeholders. The purpose of this study, which examined assessment of student learning outcomes in undergraduate park and recreation academic programs, was two-fold:…

There has been a great deal of debate regarding the value of program accreditation. Two research questions guided this study: 1) are students enrolled in accredited parks, recreation, and leisure programs more academically engaged than students enrolled in non-accredited programs, and 2) do students enrolled in accredited parks, recreation, and…