Introduction

The following sections report on thefindings of the Working Group on Using Assessment to Improve Institutional Effectiveness (WGIE). WGIE’s charge was to examine how the University uses assessment to improve the institution in areas that are not related to the student experience but that are instead related to planning and budgeting, benchmarking, and infrastructure.

The first section of this chapter presents an overview of the University-level planning and budgeting system, annual planning, and benchmarking. This section describes the systems and processes and indicates how the University uses assessment to help achieve its goals. The second section offers four examples of unit-level planning, budgeting, and benchmarking processes. Highlighted within this section are linkages between unit-level and institutional goals; the use of assessment to guide planning, program development, and resource allocation; the role of benchmarking in the assessment process; and the sustainability of the assessment process. The final section explores how the University has used assessment to improve institutional effectiveness in relation to infrastructure.