School Renewal is a broadly defined process used as an alternative route to school improvement and regional accreditation. However, there is no direct evidence to support its use. To date, there have been no systematic inquiries to document the regional accreditation process of improving an elementary and middle school through the School Renewal process. This study was an inquiry into the School Renewal accreditation process in an elementary and middle school. The study focused on the structure of the School Renewal process, the processes in which participants engaged, and the outcomes of the School Renewal process as related to planning, climate, communication, curriculum and instruction, and staff development. The design included a case study with a rich, descriptive, narrative format for reporting. The participants included the principal, assistant principal, all faculty and staff members, parents and community members of Honaker Elementary and Middle School who were members of one of the School Renewal committees. Data from documents, observations and interviews of participants, and the researcher's journal were analyzed to build a complete case narrative. The findings were organized into three major themes from the School Renewal process: the structure of school renewal; the processes of leadership including communication and involvement of participants in the School Renewal process; and the outcomes of School Renewal. A number of major understandings emanated from the study that help to elaborate existing descriptions of the School Renewal process. Planning and structuring the process created the framework and foundation from which to begin the School Renewal process. A democratic, supportive principal and a strong teacher leader emerged as key participants at the school level. School-wide communication was a vital component. The roles of participants, representation of stakeholders, and active involvement helped facilitate participant motivation that bound the participants together throughout the renewal process. / Ed. D.

Researchers and reformers have suggested that school climate is an important aspect of effective schools (Hoy & Hannum, 1997, p. 290). Literature also suggests that effective schools have a positive school climate (Chrispeels, 1990). The purpose of this study is to determine if the climate of schools affects the student achievement in school divisions in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The construct study conducted herein relies exclusively upon data collected by the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) and reported in the Discipline, Crime and Violence Incidents annual report (DCVI), the Free and Reduced Lunch report, and the Truancy report to form a climate index (CI). A Hierarchical Cluster analysis was used to determine relationships between school division climate, as measured by the CI, and student achievement, as measured by the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) Tests, in school divisions in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Based on the CI, there is a relationship between school division climate and student achievement in English/reading, mathematics, history/social science, and science in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Moreover, incidents of disorderly conduct combined with the number of students who receive free and reduced lunch are the best predictors of student achievement. / Ed. D.

This qualitative study identified school environment practices in designated school districts in a selected region in the state of Texas based on an accreditation visit from the Texas Education Agency (TEA) in the school year 1988-1989 and identified specific elements of positive school environment that were valued by the TEA.

The problem for this study was to identify standards desirable for faculty when four-year hospitality management education programs are accredited. A modified Delphi technique was used to determine standards and reach agreement among a panel of hospitality professionals concerning desirable standards to be used to evaluate faculty during the self-study section of the specialized accreditation process. Nine faculty qualifications identified in the literature as being common to the self-study section of specialized accreditation constituted the framework of the study. These qualifications included academic preparation, scholarly productivity, applied professional experience, involvement in professional associations, competency in area of specialization, teaching effectiveness, interest in curricular experimentation, ability to work with students, and public service. A professional panel consisting of 15 hospitality management education administrators/faculty and 12 hospitality management industry representatives developed standards for each of the above qualifications. The panel rated the desirability of the standards using a Likert-type scale (4=very desirable, 3=desirable, 2=undesirable, l=very undesirable). All standards receiving a total of two-thirds of the responding panel members' votes in the very desirable and desirable categories were included in a proposed accreditation model of faculty standards. Unexpectedly, the panel questioned the inclusion of the qualification of public service and agreed to omit the evaluation of faculty on this qualification during specialized accreditation. It was recommended that eight of the qualifications and their corresponding standards be used by The Council on Hotel Restaurant and Institutional Education (CHRIE) to form criteria necessary for the self-study section of specialized accreditation. It was also recommended that the developed standards be used by hospitality management faculty as a means of self-evaluation. Finally, it was recommended that hospitality management education administrators use the standards as (a) guidelines when hiring and evaluating faculty and (b) a means for assessing faculty needs prior to faculty development programs. / Ed. D.

D.Phil. / The purpose of this study is to design an RPL strategy for South African technikons which is based on international practices but customised to meet the needs of returningto- learning South Africans. It will open up access to or facilitate advanced standing in formal training for these learners. The strategy is based on: 1. an analysis of international perspectives on the nature of RPL and current international best practice 2. those aspects of the South African and technikon contexts which have a bearing on the customisation of RPL, and 3. responses and recommendations from two groups of RPL users which inform and refine the theory-based RPL strategy. Although the dominant research paradigm is qualitative, the study incorporates an empirical element: a descriptive cross-sectional survey and three focus group interviews held with groups of RPL users. The design for an RPL strategy is built around three specialised activities which must be carried out systematically within an institution: plan, implement and quality assure RPL. Each of these specialised activities comprises a set of functions containing a number of procedures depicting a step by step process to implement and manage an RPL strategy at three levels: at institutional, agency and candidate levels. The unique contribution of this study is that the RPL strategy can be used as a blueprint for implementing RPL and be customised to suit any context.

Performance management of engineering education emerges from the need to assure proper training of future engineers in order to meet the constantly evolving expectations and challenges for the engineering profession. The process of accreditation ensures that engineering graduates are adequately prepared for their professional careers and responsibilities by ensuring that they possess an expected set of mandatory graduate attributes. Engineering programs are required by accreditation bodies to have systematic performance management of their programs that informs a continuous improvement process. Unfortunately, the vast diversity of engineering disciplines, varieties of information systems, and the large number of actors involved in the process makes this task challenging and complex. We performed a systematic literature review of jurisdictions around the world who are doing accreditation and examined how universities across Canada, US and other countries, have addressed tool support for performance management of engineering education. Our initial systematic approach for tool supported performance management evolved from this, and then we refined it through an iterative process of combined action research and design science research. We developed a prototype, Graduate Attribute Information Analysis (GAIA) in collaboration with the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Ottawa, to support a systematic approach for accreditation of three engineering programs. This thesis contributes to research on the problem by developing a systematic approach, a tool that supports it, a set of related data transformations, and a tool-assessment checklist. Our systematic approach for tool-supported performance management addresses system architecture, a common continuous improvement process, a common set of key performance indicators, and identifies the performance management forms and reports needed to analyze graduate attribute data. The data transformation and analysis techniques we demonstrate ensure the accurate analysis of statistical and historical trends.

The implementation of the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges' (ACCJC) 2002 Accreditation Standards significantly increased the number of sanctions on California community colleges resulting in a debate regarding the interpretation and application of the standards. This study examined the perceptions at a community college regarding compliance and the application of ACCJC's 2002 Standard IB on institutional effectiveness as defined by the Commission. This qualitative, exploratory case study used Etzioni's 2 constructs' organizational compliance and organizational effectiveness' as the conceptual framework. Data were collected from a focus group and interviews with 12 participants with experience in accreditation as well as documents from a community college in California. A constant comparative method analysis was used to identify 4 main themes: negative perceptions, relevance, integration, and efficacy. The study findings showed that the prevailing climate of the ACCJC and the negative perceptions held by the institutional participants presented challenges in interpreting and applying Standard IB. The scope and pervasiveness of accreditation-related activities are broad and inclusive of institutional stakeholders. Recommendations for improving the congruence between the understanding and application of Standard IB include applying innovative approaches to application efforts and building on the social capital of community colleges, so as to further promote positive social change by guiding institutions through the cultivation of efficacy for student success.

The Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) has replaced its predecessors, the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and the Teacher Education Accreditation Council (TEAC) as the new sole accreditor for educator preparation in the United States. As the new accreditor, CAEP has established a new set of accreditation standards and cross-cutting themes by which it intends to measure educator preparation programs (EPPs) worthiness to received accredited status. These new standards and cross-cutting themes are untested and need to be researched in order to determine the degree to which they constitute valid and reliable measures of an EPP's potential to produce quality teachers. To evaluate one aspect of CAEP's new standards and cross-cutting themes (i.e., diversity), this study used hierarchical liner modeling to regress elementary candidates' student teaching performance assessment scores on school- and classroom-level diversity variables to evaluate the impact that being placed in a diverse field experience might have had on candidates' performance during student teaching. The analysis found that the levels of diversity in the student teaching placements had little to no impact on the elementary candidates' performance on diversity items on their teacher performance assessments completed by university supervisors and mentor teachers during student teaching. A confirmatory factor analysis also determined that the diversity related contextual factors of the schools used in the study could not be reduced to a single diversity score. Diversity is clearly a complex multidimensional construct comprised of a variety of interdependent yet distinct constructs. Developing competency in diversity and multiculturalism clearly requires more than simply being placed in a diverse student teaching placement. This does not discredit the practice of providing candidates a variety of field experiences; however the findings from this study call into question CAEP's assumptions regarding diversity and multicultural education embedded in its standards and cross-cutting themes.

The study investigated the impact of accreditation, a process of external quality assurance (EQA) on university libraries in Kenya. The study demonstrated that globalization and commercialization had affected higher education systems. An increasing emphasis was towards outcomes of higher education and evaluators were looking for new data and indicators that demonstrate that students have mastered specific objectives because of their education. The philosophy of pragmatism formed the basis of this study and the mixed research method was used for data collection. This study adopted a sequential mixed model design and data was collected in two phases. Questionnaires and interview survey methods were used to collect both quantitative and qualitative data for this study. A total of 27 (87%) of the 31 respondents from private and public universities completed and returned the questionnaires. Based on the findings from the questionnaire survey five heads of university libraries were interviewed. The findings of the study established that accreditation had made significant impacts on university libraries in Kenya. It was evident that the university librarians did not undertake self-assessment as a step prior to the accreditation visit. The standards used for evaluation of university libraries only covered inputs. The types of measures collected were only descriptive inputs of the libraries. From the findings, it was evident that there was no collection of statistics nationally. It was also evident from the findings that there were no specific performance indicators to facilitate self-assessment and benchmarking between university libraries.The study recommended that CHE should also advocate the use of self-evaluation in university libraries and evaluate university libraries based on evidence of normative practice, hence the need for revision of the standards. The standards should focus on outputs and outcomes of the library programs as primary indicators of quality. The study further recommended that university libraries in Kenya adopt the use of standardized instruments for data collection such as LibQual. In order to develop a culture of assessment in university libraries in Kenya the study recommended a performance evaluation model with a set of nine criteria including 26 indicators. / Information Science / D. Litt. (Information Science)

<p>The South African government plays a direct and active role in facilitation the development of a skilled workforce. The effective mobilisation, development and utilisation of South Africa's human resource capacity are critical for the success of the economy, institution building and the transformation process. In this context, the development of a system of Recognition of Prior Learning is one of the government's significant initiatives. This research examined whether the policy documents of the universities in the Western Cape comply with the requirements of the National Government Recognition of Prior Learning policy.</p>