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2007 Annual International CHRIE Conference & Exposition
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Astin (1985) outlined four common methods of viewing excellence: as reputation, resources, content, and
outcomes. Later, value-added or the change in students’ knowledge, behavior, and characteristics linked to specific
educational interventions became another way of viewing excellence (Astin, 1993; Ewell, 2002). Astin (1985,
1993), Pascarella and Terenzini (1991), and Haworth and Conrad (1997) attempted to quantify the quality of IHEs
through detailed studies and analysis of institutional factors, faculty, students, and curriculum that exert the most
influence on students’ educational attainment, cognitive growth, future careers, and satisfaction with the college
experience. Their work contributed to the emphasis on strong writing, communication and general education
programs, student and faculty involvement, and active and cooperative learning subscribed to by many IHEs today.
Institutional rankings published in
U.S. News and World Report, Barron’s, Money
and other sources denote
one of the most common methods used to assess quality. Educators and researchers constantly debate the validity of
rankings. Gater (2002) is one of many authors addressing the potential problems rankings such as difficulty in
defining quality, rater bias, halo effect, timing, design, lack of face, construct, and predictive validity, and reliance
on reputation factors. Kent, Lian, Khan, and Anene (1993) and Gould and Bojanic (2002) have developed ranking
systems for programs that show how various stakeholders view those schools.
Accreditation is one of the most formal processes that IHEs undergo to verify institutional quality. While
original forms of accreditation focused on resources and inputs, more recently, accreditation has been modified to
ensure that improvement is encouraged, programs’ goals, objectives, and accomplishments are communicated, and
the focuse is on students’ educational attainment (Lubinescu, Ratcliff, and Gaffney, 2001; McCleeny, 2004)
Programs can pursue accreditation through various organizations. The ACF Accrediting Commission
(ACFAC) was created in 1986 to “ensure that industry standards are met within educational environments”
(Matuszewski, 1999, p. 69). Its handbook (ACFAC, 2003) details six standards: curriculum, faculty, student
services, organization and administration, facilities, and program assessment, and specifies that accredited programs
must incorporate twelve categories of knowledge and competencies into their coursework
In the late 1980s and 1990s, researchers began to apply quality theories to community colleges. In her 1988
doctoral dissertation, Blumin
developed an expanded taxonomy of dimensions, criteria, and indicators of quality
including items that apply specifically to community colleges. She found that the top indicators of quality were
percent of graduates employed, FTEs generated by a degree program, number of articulation/transfer agreements
with other higher education institutions, size of student enrollment, size of budget, and rate of retention or attrition.
Research about hospitality management programs can help indicate what is relevant when analyzing
culinary education. Casado (1991) found that recruiters and educators perceived supervisory skills, industry
internships, and communication and technical skill have the highest mean importance when evaluating programs,
while alumni gave highest importance to program quality factors.All three groups ranked physical resources as most
important and placement of graduates as either second or third most important (p. 77).
In addition, researchers have studied the importance of hands-on experience and teaching certain
competencies in relation to program quality. Pavesic (1984) compared the importance of internship and work
experience to other required courses and found that it was ranked first by recent graduates, third by industry
practitioners and tenth by hospitality educators (p. 26). Lefever and Withian (1998) determined the best way to
prepare students was to require hands-on experience and offer courses taught by faculty with industry experience (p.
73). Okeyi, Finley, and Postel (1994) identified essential competencies required for successful employment.
Scarrow’s 1981 dissertation studied the four oldest schools to determine how they were established,
sustained and improved, and to offer suggestions for starting new schools. The researcher was able to find only one
peer-reviewed journal article, Wollin and Gravas (2002), specifically related to culinary education. Commercial
publications such as
So You Want to be a Chef: Your Guide to Culinary Careers
(Brefere, Drummond, and Barnes,
2006) provide some guidance to potential students, but offer little empirical research to support their assertions.
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