Using Key Indicators To Guide Curriculum Review at a Community College. AIR 1989 Annual Forum Paper.

Accepted guidelines for academic program review often clash with the needs of administrators, who require timely and frequent information for monitoring the quality of academic programs. A method is described for developing key indicators that permit annual scanning of all programs. The goal was to develop indicators that would flag programs showing unusual variation; these programs are then selected for more thorough, focused evaluation. The process described developed the following model components, with specified program characteristics for each: (1) market demand (student demand, employer/business demand, demand from transfer institutions); (2) resources (students' entry skills, faculty/staff, space, equipment, supplies, operating budget, and college facilities and services); (3) process (applications, enrollments, academic progress and performance, full time/part time faculty ratios, student satisfaction, retention, withdrawals, and changes of major); and (4) outcomes (graduation, placement, employment, transfer rates, achievement of competencies, salaries, "transferability," and satisfaction of students, employers and transfer institutions). Validation of the model is also discussed. Contains 10 references. (Author/KM)