The study was designed to investigate the practices of Christian college educators in identifying and translating ethical and moral ideals into written character development objectives for integration into curricular and co-curricular activities. A second purpose was to determine what sponsored curricular and co-curricular activities were designed as effective means to develop desirable character traits in students of the institution.Chief academic officers and chief student personnel administrators from seventy Christian Coalition colleges were mailed character development strategies questionnaires. Of the 140 surveys mailed, 85 were returned for a sixty-one percent response rate. Data were analyzed by frequency distribution, measures of central tendency, and measures of dispersion.Major conclusions included:1) The lack of coherence and pervasive integration-of the institutional mission and ideals into curricular and cocurricular programs has contributed to the diminishing distinctiveness of Christian higher education.2) Moral reasoning is considered to be the most effective approach in promoting character development in Christian Coalition students and values clarification was rejected as a viable approach.3) The neglect of developing an assessment strategy to calibrate student integration of desired moral and ethical ideals contradicts the espoused importance, intentionality, and purposefulness of character development of students as a central mission and justification of Christian education.4) There is little difference between public and Christian higher education regarding the intentional programming of character development in students.

The purpose of this study was to document and analyze the current state of student learning outcomes assessment by administrators in adult accelerated degree completion programs (AADCPs) in management and business-related majors within the Coalition for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU). The study was descriptive in nature; it described the various methods employed by administrators to determine what adults in their accelerated degree completion programs have learned in their course of study.The study found that assessment in AADCPs is influenced by a variety of internal and external bodies. Regional accreditation associations, AADCP faculty, college/university faculty, and non-AADCP faculty exercise influence on assessment processes and practices. AADCP administrators do not have a clear consensus regarding the influence of state education oversight bodies on assessment practices and processes.AADCPs use a variety of methods to assess student outcomes and to evaluate the effectiveness of individual courses. Assessment methods used in AADCPs include: student surveys/course evaluations, summary projects/papers, weekly assignments (graded or for discussion only), faculty assessment of group and/or individual outcomes, and final exams. More than half the AADCPs in this study utilize three or more persons to review outcomes of individual courses.AADCPs use a variety of assessment methods to evaluate overall program effectiveness. Assessment instruments include: student attitudinal surveys, capstone research projects, internally and externally-developed instruments, faculty and employer surveys, and standardized tests. Assessment instruments designed to measure cognitive outcomes (e.g., ETS Major Field Test in Business) are not widely used in CCCU AADCPs. Nearly three quarters of the AADCPs in this study utilize three or more persons to review assessment of program effectiveness.Results of this study indicate that many AADCPs are making substantial attempts to assess outcomes of individual courses and of their programs using multiple assessment instruments and multiple reviewers. However, assessment efforts tend to focus on affective and behavioral outcomes rather than cognitive, content outcomes. Few AADCPs in the CCCU are giving serious attention to the assessment of cognitive outcomes. More research based on the findings of this study are suggested. / Department of Educational Leadership

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Teachers College, Columbia University, 1994. / Includes tables. Typescript; issued also on microfilm. Sponsor: L. Lee Knefelkamp. Dissertation Committee: Dawn R. Person. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 86-90).