The College of Education Assessment Infrastructure Survey was developed and administered to 1011 institutions over a twelve-month period ending April 2007. The survey examined the capacity of university-based teacher preparation programs to respond to the growing and increasingly complex data management requirements that accompanies assessment and accountability edicts. The summarized responses of 266 institutions (26%) confirmed that education units have responded to accreditation and accountability mandates though none have relied solely on the institutional-level infrastructure. This has resulted in the implementation of a variety of assessment systems that vary widely in sophistication and cost. Also, the management of these systems is largely a part-time endeavor. Additional and more contextually based studies must be conducted to determine the actual level and type of institutional support, other hidden costs, and the level of return on investment in terms of the effectiveness of these systems and their impact on unit quality outcomes.
