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Recommended Readings
The Director of Institutional Research recommends the following works, with
occasional personal comments included in brackets.
Assessment
Very few schools were actively engaged in assessment activities before it
became mandated in the latter part of the 1980s. The mandate made assessment a
suddenly hot area for publication and this led to a flood of books and articles.
The quality of these works varies widely and separating the good from the bad
can be a tedious process. The Director's favorite
assessment authors include Astin, Banta, and Palomba (on assessment in general),
Schuh & Upcraft (student affairs), Angelo & Cross (classroom assessment
techniques), Mentkowski (student learning and assessment) and Huba & Freed
(student-centered assessment).
- Assessment for Excellence: The Philosophy and Practice of Assessment and
Evaluation in Higher Education, by Alexander Astin (1991). [Astin is a great
higher education scholar. His book is one of the best in a crowded field, though his contribution to the scholarship of assessment is often overlooked. Astin points out that input and environmental factors must be controlled when conducting assessments. This deceptively simple model, the Input-Environment-Output model, is frequently overlooked in many assessment books.]
- Assessment Essentials: Planning, Implementing and Improving Assessment in
Higher Education, by Catherine A. Palomba and Trudy Banta (1999). [A solid
book.]
- Assessing Student Competence in Accredited Disciplines: Pioneering
Approaches to Assessment in Higher Education, by Catherine A. Palomba and Trudy
Banta (2001).
- Realizing the Potential: Improving Postsecondary Teaching, Learning, and
Assessment, by James L. Ratcliff (1995).
- Learner-Centered Assessment on College Campuses; shifting the focus from
Teaching to Learning, by Mary E. Huba and Jann E. Freed (2000).
- Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for Faculty, second edition, by
Thomas A. Angelo and Patricia K. Cross (1993).
- Learning that lasts: Integrating learning, development, and performance in
college and beyond, by Marcia Mentkowski & Associates. (2000).
- Assessing Student Learning and Development, by Dary T. Erwin (1991).
- Assessment in Student Affairs: A Guide for Practitioners, by M. Lee Upcraft
and John H. Schuh (1996). [Upcraft & Schuh collaborate frequently and are among
the nation’s best student affairs scholars.]
Curriculum and Student Learning
- Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction, by Ralph W. Tyler (1949).
[A classic work written at the K-12 level that has withstood the ages and has
applications to higher education.]
- Handbook of Undergraduate Curriculum: A Comprehensive Guide to Purposes,
Structures, Practices and Change, by Jerry G. Gaff, James L. Ratcliff and
Associates (1996).
- Shaping the College Curriculum: Academic Plans in Action, by Joan S. Stark
and Lisa R. Lattuca (1997).
- Analyzing the Curriculum, by George J. Posner (1994).
- Handbook on Undergraduate Curriculum, by Arthur Levine (1978)
- Designing & Assessing Courses and Curricula: A practical guide, by Robert
M. Diamond (1997).
- Learner-Centered Teaching: Five Key Changes to Practice, by Maryellen
Weimer (2002).
- Student Development in College: Theory, Research, and Practice, by Nancy J.
Evans, Deanna S. Forney, and Florence Guido-DiBrito (1998). [Outstanding.]
- General Education Today, by Jerry G. Gaff (1983) [Some of the best general
education work has been done by Gaff and his frequent collaborator, Jerry
Ratcliff]
- A Quest for Common Learning, by Ernest Boyer and Arthur Levine (1981).
- In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women’s Development, by
Carol Gilligan (1982).
General Topics
- How College Affects Students: A Third Decade of Research, Volume 2 (2005).
by Ernest T. Pascarella and Patrick T. Terenzini [This updated version of their 1991 book is a must-have for higher education researchers and practitioners.]
- Leaving College: Rethinking the Causes and Cures of Student Attrition. 2nd
ed, by Vincent Tinto (1993). [Tinto practically invented the study of retention
and graduation, his contributions to this area are enormous.]
- What Matters in College? Four Critical Years Revisited, by Alexander Astin
(1992)
- College: The Undergraduate Experience in America, by Ernest L. Boyer
(1987).
- Scholarship reconsidered: Priorities of the professoriate, by Ernest L.
Boyer (1997). [Boyer, like Astin, is an extremely important higher education
scholar. Ironically, the two of them attended undergraduate colleges only 20
miles apart, Messiah College for Boyer and Gettysburg College for Astin.]
- The Soul of the American University: From Protestant Establishment to
Established Nonbelief, by George M. Mardsen (1994). [Mardsen primarily writes
about the religious aspects of colleges.]
- The Aims of Education and Other Essays, by Alfred North Whitehead (1929).
[An all-time classic work.]
- The Higher Learning in America, by Robert M. Hutchins (1936, reprinted in
1995). [Another classic treatment of higher education.]
- The Uses of the University, by Clark Kerr (1963, fourth reprint in 1995).
- The Shape of the River: Long-Term Consequences of Considering Race in
College and University Admissions, by William G. Bowen and Derek Bok (1998).
- Good Practice in Student Affairs. by Gregory Blimling, Elizabeth J. Whitt,
and Associates (1999).
Organizations and Leadership
- How Colleges Work: The Cybernetics of Academic Organization and
Leadership., by Robert Birnbaum (1991). [Birnbaum provides a thorough overview
of how colleges operate in an easily digestible manner.]
- Field Guide to Academic Leadership, edited by Robert M. Diamond (2002).
- Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice, and Leadership second edition by
Lee G. Bolman and Terrence E. Deal (1997).
History of Higher Education
- The American College and University: A History, by Frederick Rudolph (1962)
[This may be the best, single-volume, book ever written on this topic.]
- American Higher Education: A history, by Christopher J. Lucas (1994). [This is a
good companion read to the Rudolph book. Lucas, unlike Rudolph, includes sections on higher education's historical origins in ancient Greece and medieval and early Europe.]
- To Advance Knowledge: The Growth of American Research Universities,
1900-1940, by Roger Geiger (1986). [Geiger is an outstanding higher education
historian.]
- The Emergence of the American University, by Laurence R. Veysey (1965)
College Sports
- Games Colleges Play: Scandal and Reform in Intercollegiate Athletics, by
John R. Thelin (1994). [One of the best books on college athletics ever written]
- The Game of Life: College Sports and Educational Values, by James L Shulman
and William G. Bowen (2001) [A New Yorker review stated this “may be one of the
most important books on higher education in the last twenty years.]
- Reclaiming the Game: College Sports and Educational Values, by William G.
Bowen and Sarah A. Levin (2003) [A companion to the Shulman & Bowen book]
- Unpaid Professionals: Commercialism and Conflict in Big-Time College
Sports, by Andrew Zimbalist (1999). [Zimbalist is Smith College economist who
writes frequently on the public policy aspect of sports.]
- Intercollegiate Athletics and the American University: A University
President’s Perspective, by James J. Duderstadt (2000). [Author is a former
president of the University of Michigan who advocates that big-time athletics
should be deemphasized.]
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