Institutional Cultures of Assessment: A Qualitative Study of Administrator Perspectives

In this study, results are presented from a rigorous content analysis of responses to two open-ended questions included in the Administrators’ Survey of Assessment Culture. A sample of 302 US higher education administrators provided 566 narrative responses addressing (1) the primary reason they conducted assessment on campus, and (2) how they would characterize their campus assessment cultures. Analysis revealed two meta-themes: “Institutional Structures,” including procedures, data usage, and accountability; and “Organizational Culture,” administrators’ descriptions of rituals, artifacts, discourse, values, and change related to assessment. Implications are shared for reframing and cultivating notions of institutional cultures of assessment.