What Are Academic Administrators Doing To Improve Undergraduate Education? Accent on Improving College Teaching and Learning

This paper presents the results of a study of 1,053 institutions that revealed several beliefs and trends among chief academic officers about improving undergraduate education. Among the beliefs and trends discovered are the following: (1) most commonly reported academic practices for undergraduate educational improvement were faculty recruitment, selection and promotion processes, and academic planning; the least used were student assessment and academic administrative leadership practices; (2) chief academic officers consider faculty recruitment, selection, and promotion practices the most effective practices at their institutions while the least were those related to instructional development; and (3) two-year colleges are more likely to have recently introduced new academic management practices, comprehensive institutions are more likely to have such practices in place, and four-year institutions are more likely to rate the existing practices as effective. The Academic Management Practices Inventory, developed by the National Center for Research to Improve Postsecondary Teaching and Learning, is noted for providing the means for identifying the extent and effectiveness of academic management practices on individual campuses. (GLR)