This volume summarizes what we know about professional schools, transnational campuses, proprietary schools, religious institutions, and corporate universities. As the fabric of higher education becomes more complex and as students take advantage of these specialized educational environments, conducting meaningful and relevant research becomes a challenge. The volume authors argue for the importance of educational context and debunk the one-size-fits-all approach to assessment and evaluation. Each chapter examines the critical areas in need of attention and the implications for institutional research and outcomes assessment. Those approaching the challenge of research and policy analysis within this collage of diverse institutions and distinctive student populations will find this volume to be a valuable guide. This is the 124th issue of the quarterly report New Directions for Institutional Research.

Those who study college students and college environments have learned that many of their questions could not be answered through traditional methods. This book provides faculty members, students and research practitioners in the college environment with a handbook of alternative research methods.

Internal and external pressure continues to mount for college professionals to provide evidence of successful activities, programs, and services, which means that, going forward, nearly every campus professional will need to approach their work with a data-informed perspective.But you find yourself thinking “I am not a data person”.Yes, you are. Or can be with the help of Amelia Parnell.You Are a Data Person provides context for the levels at which you are currently comfortable using data, helps you identify both the areas where you should strengthen your knowledge and where you can use this knowledge in your particular university role.For example, the rising cost to deliver high-quality programs and services to students has pushed many institutions to reallocate resources to find efficiencies. Also, more institutions are intentionally connecting classroom and cocurricular learning experiences which, in some instances, requires an increased gathering of evidence that students have acquired certain skills and competencies. In addition to programs, services, and pedagogy, professionals are constantly monitoring the rates at which students are entering, remaining enrolled in, and leaving the institution, as those movements impact the institution’s financial position.From teaching professors to student affairs personnel and beyond, Parnell offers tangible examples of how professionals can make data contributions at their current and future knowledge level, and will even inspire readers to take the initiative to engage in data projects.The book includes a set of self-assessment questions and a companion set of action steps and available resources to help readers accept their identity as a data person. It also includes an annotated list of at least 20 indicators that any higher education professional can examine without sophisticated data analyses.

This book provides university teachers, leaders and policymakers with evidence on how researchers in several countries are monitoring and improving student engagement—the extent to which students are exposed to and participate in effective educational practices. It captures insights from international implementations of the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), developed in the United States. In the last half decade NSSE has been adapted and used in several other countries, producing the largest international collaboration yet involving educationally relevant data on students’ engagement in higher education. Leaders of established national collaborations draw on their experiences with hundreds of institutions to contribute their insights. Framed by their cultural and educational contexts, they discuss issues concerning first-year learners, international students, part-time and distance learners, as well as teaching and leadership in support of student learning. Each chapter outlines strategies based on national case studies and presents perspectives supported by concrete examples of how these have played out in diverse settings. The book suggests mechanisms that can be used by institutions, ministries and quality agencies around the world.

This volume of New Directions for Institutional Research proposes and tests new approaches to institutional research (IR) that attempt to break down barriers to academic success, particularly focusing on minority students, working students, and others in nontraditional circumstances. The chapters in this volume review prior research on best practices as well as evaluations of retention programs and persistence by students of color, then go on to propose and test new approaches to assessment, action research, action inquiry, and evaluation. Lessons learned from this volume should contribute to strategies used by administrators and faculty for collaborative projects involving IR professionals and other higher education researchers in interventions designed to improve academic success for all students. This is the 130th volume of New Directions for Institutional Research, a quarterly publication published by Jossey-Bass. Access our complete list of New Directions for Institutional Research titles for a wide variety of IR topics.

Globalization, demographic shifts, increase in student enrollments, rapid technological transformation, and market-driven environments are altering the way higher education operates today. Institutional Research and Planning in Higher Education explores the impact of these changes on decision support and the nature of institutional research in higher education. Bringing together a diverse set of global contributors, this volume covers contemporary thinking on the practices of academic planning and its impact on key issues such as access, institutional accountability, quality assurance, educational policy priorities, and the development of higher education data systems.