Mission and Goals

Office Mission

The Swarthmore College Office of Institutional Effectiveness, Research & Assessment conducts research to support planning, decision-making, and assessment across the College in an objective manner that conveys results accurately to appropriate stakeholders. This work contributes to the College mission by ensuring that decisions are informed by evidence, and practices are evaluated for their effectiveness at achieving College goals.

Goals:  The Institutional Effectiveness, Research & Assessment Office…

 …gathers, synthesizes, summarizes and disseminates College information to meet internal and external information needs. 

…conducts research to address management questions and support assessment efforts at the institutional and (in some cases) department level.

…proactively conducts specialized research that may inform policy discussions.

…provides service, professional expertise, and consultation to College and external colleagues.

...designs, administers, and coordinates College surveys.

... collects and prepares peer data for benchmarking and comparative studies.

... designs queries and gathers, troubleshoots, organizes, documents, and maintains a robust data infrastructure to support Institutional Research work.

... develops skilled use of data tools, programming, statistics, communication, and best business practices as well as expertise in the fields of Institutional Research and Higher Education.