Expanding the understanding of the nature of institutional research, this volume documents alternative ways that it is currently being carried out beyond the confines of a traditional campus-based IR office. Chapters show how institutional research is being conducted by public university system offices, state higher education coordinating boards, institutional-affiliated research offices, and higher education consultants. Chapter topics discussed include: Developing a Statewide Student Tracking Tool The Role of Consultants in Institutional Research Collaborating on State-Level Institutional Research in New Hampshire: NH Paper Using College Board Data to Examine Trends in New Hampshire's College-Bound Students Virginia Improves Teaching and Learning (VITAL): A Comprehensive Statewide Data System for Teacher Quality Confronting Ambiguity, Anarchy, and Crisis in Insitutional Research: Using Student Unit Record Databases in Extra-Institutional Research. Because these entities often do not have ready access to campus-specific data, they must be creative in finding ways to obtain data and information that enable them to provide a value-added function in the field. The chapter authors high-light ways in which these offices acquire and use information for institutional research. This is the 139th volume of the Jossey-Bass quarterly report series New Directions for Institutional Research. Always timely and comprehensive, New Directions for Institutional Research provides planners and administrators in all types of academic institutions with guidelines in such areas as resource coordination, information analysis, program evaluation, and institutional management.

Institutional research is more relevant today than ever before as growing pressures for improved student learning and increased institutional accountability motivate higher education to effectively use ever-expanding data and information resources. As the most current and comprehensive volume on the topic, the Handbook describes the fundamental knowledge, techniques, and strategies that define institutional research. The book contains an overview of the profession and its history, examines how institutional research supports executive and academic leadership and governance, and discusses the varied ways data from federal, state, and campus sources are used by research professionals. With contributions from leading experts in the field, this important resource reviews the analytic tools, techniques, and methodologies used by institutional researchers in their professional practice and covers a wide range of topics such as: conducting institutional research; statistical applications; comparative analyses; quality control systems; measuring student, faculty, and staff opinions; and management activities designed to improve organizational effectiveness.

The focus of this volume is on the work of Institutional Researchers in a small college or university (SCUs) setting. At an SCU, the goal of the IR office is to balance the bureaucratic tendencies of data-driven decision making with the need for collegiality and collaboration. Drawing on numerous examples, it illustrates how IR professionals can leverage their positionality within the institution to design data flows to answer questions by serving as convergent thinkers, connecting disjointed systems and requests. This volume: identifies the challenges that small IR offices face reinforces the idea of collegiality as a defining feature of small IR offices discusses several principles for using data about teaching and learning explores the effects of low response rates in survey data and the effects of nonresponse bias demonstrates the importance of collaborative efforts in enacting change proposes a model of policy development focused on student success presents an effective model of SCU IR office development This is the 173rd volume of this Jossey-Bass quarterly report series. Timely and comprehensive, New Directions for Institutional Research provides planners and administrators in all types of academic institutions with guidelines in such areas as resource coordination, information analysis, program evaluation, and institutional management.

Expanding the understanding of the nature of institutional research, this volume documents alternative ways that it is currently being carried out beyond the confines of a traditional campus-based IR office. Chapters show how institutional research is being conducted by public university system offices, state higher education coordinating boards, institutional-affiliated research offices, and higher education consultants. Chapter topics discussed include: Developing a Statewide Student Tracking Tool The Role of Consultants in Institutional Research Collaborating on State-Level Institutional Research in New Hampshire: NH Paper Using College Board Data to Examine Trends in New Hampshire's College-Bound Students Virginia Improves Teaching and Learning (VITAL): A Comprehensive Statewide Data System for Teacher Quality Confronting Ambiguity, Anarchy, and Crisis in Insitutional Research: Using Student Unit Record Databases in Extra-Institutional Research. Because these entities often do not have ready access to campus-specific data, they must be creative in finding ways to obtain data and information that enable them to provide a value-added function in the field. The chapter authors high-light ways in which these offices acquire and use information for institutional research. This is the 139th volume of the Jossey-Bass quarterly report series New Directions for Institutional Research. Always timely and comprehensive, New Directions for Institutional Research provides planners and administrators in all types of academic institutions with guidelines in such areas as resource coordination, information analysis, program evaluation, and institutional management.

A valuable source of clear, simple guidance on how to assess general education student learning outcomes Based on an exhaustive review of the scholarship, as well as the input of numerous academics at learning institutions around the country, this volume in the acclaimed New Directions for Institutional Research series provides faculty members and assessment teams with the tools they need to assess general education student learning outcomes While Part 1 provides a broad overview of the subject, Part 2 delves into the six key general education learning outcomes, namely, critical thinking, quantitative reasoning, intercultural competence, teamwork, civic knowledge and engagement, and integrative and applied learning.

A source of fresh insights into the status of racial minorities in STEM and the drivers determining minority student success This volume in the acclaimed New Directions for Institutional Success provides answers to some of the most pressing questions regarding racial and ethnic minorities in STEM education. Featuring contributions from educators representing the gamut of institutions of higher learning, from large research universities to community colleges, it delves into the latest research into the factors determining racial minority student success in STEM education. And it provides important practical insights into student underperformance and racial disparities in STEM as well as the drivers of minority student success in STEM.

Campus climate studies and research on the impact of diversity in higher education abound. On closer examination, however, the corpus of findings on the role of diversity and how diversity is captured with campus climate surveys reveals both conceptual and methodological limitations. This volume of New Directions for Institutional Research addresses these limitations with the inclusion of studies by institutional research (IR) practitioners who make use of data that furnish new insights into the relationships among student diversity, student perception of campus climate, and student sociodemographic backgroundand how those relationships affect academic outcomes. Each chapter emphasizes how IR practitioners benefit from the conceptual and analytical approach laid out, and each chapter provides a framework to gauge the contribution of diversity to educational benefits. The findings revealed in this volume cast doubt on the benefits of student diversity purported in previous research. At a minimum, the influence of student diversity is neither linear nor unidirectional, but operates within a complex web of interrelated factors that shape the student experience. This is the 145th volume of New Directions for Institutional Research. Always timely and comprehensive, New Directions for Institutional Research provides planners and administrators in all types of academic institutions with guidelines in such areas as resource coordination, information analysis, program evaluation, and institutional management.