Ensuring the Quality and Productivity of Education and Professional Development Activities

With some 700,000 civilian employees, the Department of Defense is the single largest employer of civil service workers in the U.S. government. The Office of the Chancellor for Education and Professional Development in the Department of Defense (DoD) is charged with ensuring the quality and productivity of education and professional development activities targeted at DoD civilians. At the request of the Chancellor's office, RAND undertook a study to examine the approaches used to evaluate academic quality and productivity in a variety of postsecondary education and training contexts, including corporations, state governments, and universities. The study then considered which approaches might be most relevant to the Chancellor1s office.