improving student outcomes and institutional decision making with PERC

Abstract

A strategy for assessing program effectiveness and its related costs is essential for increasing students' learning outcomes and for making policy decisions. Data collected at Empire State College show how PERC can contribute to the decision‐making process.

The effects of peer tutoring between domestic and international students: the tutor system at Japanese universities

“…The importance of utilizing student evaluations of educational practise is well known and has been discussed in the research literature. Palola and Lehman (1976) emphasize, 'Students are the primary consumers of the teaching/learning process and are in an especially advantageous position to evaluate certain aspects of their own learning' (p. 74). Moreover, the present study benefits from the analysis of perspectives of both international students and tutors to form its conclusions on the functioning of the tutor system.…”

Assessing student progress in academic achievement

“…When assessment of achievement is mentioned, many people think only of paper-and-pencil achievement tests. Such tests are important, but they need to be supplemented by additional measures of the same achievement variables, as demonstrated by the Empire State College student assessment system (Palola and Lehmann, 1976). Community colleges face some additional situations that make the inclusion of additional measures even more important, as will be discussed in the final section of this article.…”

“…Concerning self-report, in the Empire State College student assessment program mentioned earlier (Palola and Lehmann, 1976) all instructor assessments are effectively supplemented by student self-assessments of accomplishment, and community colleges could easily incorporate such supplemental data. That students do tend to report self-assessments honestly has been well documented in two extensive reviews of related studies by the American College Testing Program (1973, pp.…”

“…Evaluation of the effectiveness of colleges and their programs, and relating that effectiveness to program costs, is the acknowledged way to gather the evidence being demanded to show that colleges are doing worthwhile jobs. Palola and Lehmann (1976) have reported on such an effectiveness/costs system that is operating at Empire State College in New York, a four-year university without walls. Overall assessment of the academic achievements of students as a group is an important part of any such evaluation.…”