Sociology faculty are accountable to multiple stakeholders to demonstrate that our academic programs are effective and that students are learning. Despite the ubiquity of mandated program review practices, which often include the assessment of student learning, research is lacking on the extent to which these efforts lead to improvements in departmental outcomes and student experiences. Similarly, little research exists on how department leaders experience and evaluate the utility of these efforts. This article uses data from a national survey of sociology departments to document how program review and assessment are enacted in sociology departments and to explore chairs’ perspectives on program review processes and its outcomes. The article concludes with a series of recommendations for improving these processes so that faculty time is used well and the experiences of sociology students are enhanced.

社会学系对多个利益相关者负责，以证明我们的学术课程是有效的并且学生正在学习。尽管普遍存在强制性的课程审查做法，通常包括对学生学习的评估，但仍缺乏有关这些努力导致部门成果和学生体验改善的研究。同样，关于部门领导如何体验和评估这些工作的效用的研究很少。本文使用来自国家社会学部门调查的数据来记录如何在社会学部门中实施计划审查和评估，并探讨主席对计划审查过程及其结果的看法。