Outputs and Outcomes in Public Sector Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Outputs and Outcomes in Public Sector - Essay ExampleSuch outcomes should be classified as outputs as they reflect what the foundation has accomplished they do not reflect what (or how much) students have learned.Nor do they answer the questions outlined above in fact, they do not measure changes in the students as a firmness of their college experience. As opposed to outcomes that measure aggregated statistics on an institution-wide basis, student learning outcomes are concerned with attributes and abilities, both cognitive and affective, which reflect how the student experiences at the institution supported their development as persons. Students are asked to demonstrate acquisition of specific knowledge and skills, generallyIn a coordinated effort to answer these results-oriented questions, higher(prenominal) education governing and monitoring bodies have been working to address this need for accountability. They have (and are continuing to do so) reviewed and revised the standar ds that institutions use to demonstrate their dexterity and effectiveness. At the national level, both the American Association for Higher Education (AAHE) and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) have advocated the need to increase awareness, the value, and necessity for measuring and reporting student learning as outcomes. However, because of the decentralized structure of accreditation of higher education in the United States, it has become the responsibility of the regional higher education institutional accreditation associations to develop standards by which to hold institutions accountable through evaluation, including the imposition of student learning outcome measures. (McMurtrie 2000)In the past, prescriptive standards that regional accrediting bodies established to accredit individual higher education institutions have been inputs- and outputs-based, focused on measuring and reporting the processes and structures concerning the delivery and use of insti tutional services. To increase accountability practices, regional accrediting bodies are placing to a greater extent pressure on institutions to measure what students learn by applying assessment processes, replacing traditional standards with less prescriptive standards seeking outcome measures--institutional outcomes and student learning outcomes. Furthermore, several(prenominal) of the regional accreditors are requesting their member institutions to prepare assessment plans that measure outcomes, especially student learning outcomes, within the institution. (Hernon 2002)Student learning outcomes might be visualized as applying only to undergraduates, when, in fact, they could be appropriate to graduate students, be they masters or doctoral students. At the same time, such measures could be appropriate for some other constituent groups that the library serves. Moving beyond student learning outcomes, research outcomes are appropriate for graduate students, especially doctoral st udents, and for the faculty. As we noted in An