Chapter 8 - Assessment
Making a Difference embodies the university's broad intention to ensure its continuous improvement through planning, execution, and assessment. But continuous improvement is not enough. Through shrewd strategy and skillful execution, Duke must achieve a rate of improvement greater than other comparable institutions; only in this way can we gain ground and ensure our position among the small number of institutions that define what is best in higher education, both nationally and globally.
Our assessment strategies will continue processes developed under Building on Excellence. The Board is an active partner in our assessment strategy, and regular discussions with the Board are essential. We will provide a comprehensive biannual assessment for discussion with the full Board in the fall of 2008 and in the fall of 2010. In addition, progress reports on specific planning goals and initiatives will be discussed as a regular part of the agendas of appropriate Board committees. Comprehensive updates on the sources and uses of funds to support the plan will be made at least annually. The Board of Trustees will also approve annual programmatic budget allocations and specific capital financing plans through established Board processes.
We expect the specific strategies and focused investments outlined in the plan to advance Duke's broad ambitions, and thus the assessment of the plan cannot be separated from our ongoing, overall assessment of our institutional health and progress. Assessment operates at many levels at Duke, from individual student course evaluations to broad institutional accreditation reviews. Several of these ongoing mechanisms will be of particular importance in assessing our progress as we implement the strategies of institutional improvement outlined in Making a Difference; we expect continued absolute improvement in all of them and notable relative improvement in relation to our peers in a number of them. Significantly, Duke's institutional self-study and external review for reaccreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, a process that occurs every ten years, will take place over the next two and half years and will include a substantial focus on institutional assessment and improvement. The most significant university-wide assessment mechanisms are the following; in addition each school maintains data and undertakes analyses for self-assessment and professional accreditation and reports regularly to the Provost regarding the quality of graduate and professional schools' admissions.
- Since 1997, we have compiled strategic indicators at the request of the Board of Trustees to monitor institutional "vital signs" related to finances (endowment, sponsored research, and philanthropic support), faculty (size and composition, salary trends, faculty honors), and students (quality measures, applications, selectivity, yield, overlap, financial aid and survey satisfaction measures). This report was modified in 2004 to provide more detail at the individual school level.
- Since 2001, we have provided an annual report on the faculty to the Board of Trustees. This includes a statistical profile showing the size and distribution of the faculty over time, demographics, age and tenure profiles, and turnover rates. The Provost uses this data as a foundation for remarks on faculty development. We anticipate that there will be an increase of faculty in a stage of their career in which they can exercise critical leadership in our departments, interdisciplinary units, and schools. In addition, we will be working with each dean to assure that the profile of faculty members in their units is well-structured to promote a vibrant culture with strong faculty leadership.