Additional Recommendations

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Accountability Report

Sustain and expand support for instructional improvements.
Support the administrations efforts to enhance the analytic capacity of the University Strategic Analysis Group, expand administrative and staff support and increase its availability for Chairs and Deans.
Undertake longitudinal studies of baccalaureate, graduate and professional school degree recipients to measure alumni satisfaction with their experience at the UW.
Appoint an Advisory Board on Accountability.

1. Sustain and expand support for instructional improvements.

The Center for Instructional Development and Research (CIDR) is one asset in support of continued improvement of instruction. A description of CIDR activities can be found in Appendix Q. As part of the program for sustaining and expanding support for instructional improvements, the University should make available additional rewards for outstanding instruction and significant innovation in teaching.

We recommend also that the Faculty Senate and its appropriate committees continue seeking instructional improvements. For example, during the past year, the Faculty Council on Academic Standards (FCAS) initiated a programmatic assessment of institutional barriers to course access and progress to degree. As a result of this effort, the faculty has approved a modification of the University course withdrawal policy which restricts the majority of course drops to the first two weeks of the quarter when it is still possible for wait-listed students to add the course. The new policy will take effect in winter quarter, 1998. In addition, a series of administrative and service changes designed to improve the likelihood of students placing themselves in courses appropriate to their needs and skill levels and to promote student success in high-demand, high-drop courses was approved by the Faculty Senate (see Appendix R). A subcommittee of FCAS is overseeing the implementation of these recommendations and continuing to examine various academic policies to ensure unimpeded progress to degree by our students.

2. Support the administration's efforts to enhance the analytic capacity of the University Strategic Analysis Group, expand administrative and staff support and increase its availability for Chairs and Deans.

During the last 2 1/2 years, the University Strategic Analysis Group (USAG) has compiled a University-wide relational database to meet the analytic and planning needs of senior decision-makers (e.g., Chairs and Deans) across campus. These data have been used to support the University's enrollment planning efforts, accountability reports, course access resource distribution decisions, grade inflation issues, instructional quality initiatives, Teaching Assistant reallocation efforts, instructional resource utilization studies, ten-year reviews, and strategic planning efforts in colleges and departments.

USAG has been a fully cooperative effort among the Office of Planning and Budgeting, Undergraduate Education (including the Office of Educational Assessment), Computing and Communications, and the Registrar's Office. The USAG database is one of the finest university-level academic research databases in the country.

The database itself is composed of data from Planning and Budgeting (budgetary information), the Office of the Registrar (student records and course scheduling information), the Office of Educational Assessment (student evaluations and survey information), the Graduate School (surveys), and national records of data (e.g., National Research Council Rankings). It is big: 1.5 million course registration records, 450,000 records of student registration, 65,000 unique students, 9,000 classes per quarter, and 4,000 instructors of record. It occupies 1 gigabyte of disk space presently, but will double every two years (as the information is updated). New information is added to the database in response to new needs.

The data have now been made available directly to Deans and Chairs for their use. Direct access allows each academic leader to be able to ask questions of importance and/or timeliness to them. In the last year, 50 Chairs, Deans, and their designates have been trained to use the database. Additionally, USAG members have responded to 300+ requests for specific analyses.

The Committee recommends that additional support be provided to maintain and refine the database and train additional users.

3. Undertake longitudinal studies of baccalaureate, graduate and professional school degree recipients to measure alumni satisfaction with their experience at the UW.

Most of what we do at the UW has long-term (rather than short-term) payoff. Both research and teaching are tested through time. The value of truly exceptional research is often not known for years; the very best often spawns new fields of inquiry. Similarly, with teaching, a great teacher's effect may not be known to a student until years later, after the accumulated lessons of life have demonstrated the power of knowledge and mentoring.

Longitudinal studies are more difficult and more expensive than cross-sectional ones. Even so, we urge the UW to undertake surveys of alumni on a regular basis and to integrate the results into their reporting vehicles.

4. Appoint an Advisory Board on Accountability.

The Committee views the issue of accountability as one that will remain of active interest and serious concern for some considerable time into the future. Hence we feel that it is important to make a plan that ensures active involvement of all interested parties in the evolution of this issue over time. As indicated above, there are many issues, and some of our specific recommendations, that need further or on-going work. These include, among others, creating a "Transfer of Knowledge" measure (Appendix K), developing longitudinal studies, and working with appropriate administrators to meet legislative mandates such as those described in Appendix B.

Our specific recommendation is that an Advisory Board on Accountability be established. We suggest renewable one-year appointments, so that several members would carry over from year-to-year for continuity. The proposed membership of the Board would include members representing each of the following:

Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, Arts, Humanities, Health Sciences, the other Professional Schools, the Provost's Office for Research, the Faculty at large (who would be appointed by and serve as the official link to the Faculty Senate), the Tacoma campus, the Bothell campus; one ASUW representative, one GPSS representative and up to three members chosen at large by the Provost.

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