Building Commitment to and Capacity for Evidence-Based Program Improvement in Higher Education: Teacher Education as an “Instrumental” Case

• In Event: Rethinking the Relationship Between Institutional Strategy and Quality

Abstract

Institutions of higher education are under increasing pressure to make “evidence-based” decisions related to planning and evaluating organizational change. Nowhere are the policy mandates for using data systematically for program improvement more pervasive than in the field of teacher education. We studied organizational practices related to data use in 10 purposively selected teacher education programs around the country. Preliminary findings suggest that using data systematically for program improvement involves much more than technical capacity—that is, simply developing data “systems”. Our findings suggest that building organizational capacity and commitment to evidence-based decision-making also requires attention to the relationships between faculty motivation, organizational practices, and the affordances and constraints of types of data used to guide program improvement efforts.

Authors

• Charles A. Peck, University of Washington

• Morva McDonald, University of Washington

• Susannah Davis, University of Washington - Seattle