A Perception-Based Model for the Evaluation of Career and Value Education within the Liberal Arts

Abstract

Despite the surge of interest in higher education program evaluation, the state of the art is embryonic. So many variables influence the intellectual and emotional development of college students that attributing growth a single educational experience is a most difficult thing demonstrate. Yet new and sometimes innovative collegiate programs, responding the current loss of faith in liberal education and the new careerism, must be assessed-and at limited cost. The staff of Project COVE, Saint Louis University, had its opportunity face this challenge in liberal arts colleges when they agreed evaluate a set of diverse programs funded by the Lilly Endowment. At the root of the endowment's support of these programs lay their desire to test the theses that interdisciplinary studies involving the basic liberal arts and sciences can be structured in a way as provide quality preparation for immediate entry into careers some of which have not always been associated with undergraduate education. There were some twenty-four projects in various stages of implementation. These attempts breathe