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Quality Benchmarks in Undergraduate Psychology Programs
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Quality Benchmarks in Undergraduate Psychology Programs

Dana S Dunn, Maureen A McCarthy, Suzanne Baker, Jane S Halonen and G. William Hill
The American psychologist, Vol.62(7), pp.650-670
10/01/2007
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.62.7.650
PMID: 17924749
Web of Science ID: WOS:000250131700003

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33 Times Cited - Web of Science

Abstract

Performance benchmarks are proposed to assist undergraduate psychology programs in defining their missions and goals as well as documenting their effectiveness. Experienced academic program reviewers compared their experiences to formulate a developmental framework of attributes of undergraduate programs focusing on activity in 8 domains: curriculum, assessment issues, student learning outcomes, program resources, student development, faculty characteristics, program climate, and administrative support. A continuum of performance was conceptualized for each attribute in each of the domains to characterize underdeveloped, developing, effective, and distinguished achievement for undergraduate programs. The authors hope to inspire a national conversation about program benchmarks in psychology in order to improve program quality, encourage more effective program reviews, and help optimally functioning programs compete more successfully for resources on the basis of their distinguished achievements.

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