Using Quality Benchmarks for Assessing and Developing Undergraduate Programs

Preface.

About the Authors.

Introduction: The Case for Quality Benchmarks.

1 The Need for Quality Benchmarks in Undergraduate Programs.

Part One: Benchmarking for Eight Key Program Domains.

2 The View from the Top: Checking the Climate and the Leadership of a Program.

3 First Things First: Attending to Assessment Issues, Accountability, and Accreditation (George B. Ellenberg, Claudia J. Stanny, Eman El-Sheikh).

4 The New Architecture of Learning Design: Focusing on Student Learning Outcomes.

5 Evaluating Curricula.

6 Student Development: Solving the Great Puzzle.

7 Constructively Evaluating Faculty Characteristics.

8 Back to Basics: Program Resources.

9 The Art, Science, and Craft of Administrative Support.

Part Two: Benchmarking in Practice.

10 Benchmarking Quality in Challenging Contexts: The Arts, Humanities, and Interdisciplinary Programs (Gregory W. Lanier).

11 Special Issues in Benchmarking in the Natural Sciences.

12 Conducting a Self-Study.

13 Serving Our Students and Our Institutions.

Appendix A Using Benchmarking to Serve as an External Reviewer.

Appendix B Sources of Data.

Appendix C Assessment Materials for the Arts.

Appendix D Disciplinary Accrediting Organizations for Bachelor's Degree Programs Currently Recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA).

References.

Index.