Learning From Graduate Student Feedback About Program Effectiveness: What a Research-Based Review Survey Found

• In Event: Examining Perspective and Improving Curriculum in Educational Leadership Programs

Abstract

Purposes are to (1) review research on leadership preparation and advanced program effectiveness, and (2) report feedback from the survey of a public university’s educational leadership department. The rationale was to be in step with exemplary practices in graduate student satisfaction, program assessment and improvement, and quality and strategic evaluation. Feedback was solicited on program effectiveness, satisfaction, impact, and ethics via the researchers’ High-Quality Leadership Preparation Effectiveness survey instrument. Influences included the relevant literature, the leadership research culture, and accreditation standards—forces steering quality research-based programming. Four themes resulted from the qualitative and quantitative analyses, suggesting stakeholders’ contrasting viewpoints. This study fits with LTEL SIG goals: assessing the teaching–policy relationship, integrating quantitative and qualitative methodologies, and discussing real-life investigations.

Author

• Carol A. Mullen, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University