A How-to Manual for the Graduate Review and Improvement Process

Abstract

The inaugural volume of the Minnesota Evaluation Studies Institute (MESI) Program Evaluation Series features the Graduate Review and Improvement Process (GRIP). GRIP is an innovative student-centered process designed to develop actionable steps to enhance student success in graduate programs. MESI staff, primarily graduate students in the Evaluation Studies program, developed and implemented the process in consultation with the University of Minnesota Graduate School as an alternative to the traditional University external review process that typically occurs every five to ten years and produces largely quantitative information about a program (for example, time to degree, retention, and number of publications). With its commitment to active student involvement in the evaluation, GRIP can serve as a complementary process to external monitoring and surveying, one that allows students and program leaders to assess the quality of their curriculum, advising, instruction, and related services and to devise realistic plans to improve them.