Search

Over the past decade, institutions of higher education have come under increasing demands for accountability. Colleges and universities are expected to document student learning, beyond traditional course grades. The use of assessment as a tool to improve learning relies on the active involvement of faculty in planning, implementing, and refining the assessment process. This paper discusses the role of faculty and provides a case study describing how institutional researchers can help faculty develop valid and reliable instruments to measure student learning outcomes. Faculty used data to refine a general education student outcomes measure for numeracy. The numeracy assessment was administered to 584 students in 27 sections in spring 2001 and later that year to 206 students. The assessment was considered useful for accountability and planning purposes. (Contains 14 references.) (Author/SLD)

This report describes implementation of a districtwide planning model in the Mesa, Arizona, Public Schools. Figures illustrate planning processes throughout the report. Intended as an implementive framework, the planning system's purposes are to assist decision making about resource allocation, program direction, progress measurement, and district ability to meet future challenges. The report outlines past planning activities, which were begun in 1968 to accommodate dramatic enrollment increases. An overview reports the phases of the planning model, which is designed to determine long- and short-range plans and which is a cyclical process relying upon participant collaboration. Key participants include community representatives, district personnel and administration and board members. Planning groups include the governing board, the superintendency, and the community-based planning, internal planning, and budget committees. During phase 1, broad goal statements are developed and reviewed by the superintendency, planning committees, and governing board prior to adoption. The community-based planning committee, during phases 2 and 3, evaluates the district's future and reviews community demographic trends, enrollment projections, and economy. The planning document produced by this group details challenges and opportunities for the future; it is also used for mission statement revision and strategy definition (phase 4). Departments, divisions, and schools develop long-range plans from documents developed at the district level, and the internal planning committee aggregates the plans, which form the long-range plan after board approval. Short-range plans are also created for the next school year. Phase 5 outlines activities during implementation. An appendix includes mission statements. (CJH)