The Association of Governing Boards of Colleges and Universities (AGB) has published the results of a study about governing boards and student learning assessment. The following quote is from a Chronicle article about the survey results. You can download the entire report from the AGB: How Boards Oversee Educational Quality. As well, AGB offers the book Making the Grade: How Boards Can Ensure Academic Quality, by Peter Ewell.

The report, "How Boards Oversee Educational Quality: A Report on a Survey on Boards and the Assessment of Student Learning," is based on a survey conducted in November 2009 that asked 1,300 chief academic officers and chairs of board committees on academic affairs how boards oversee academic quality. The response rate was 38 percent, with 28 percent of trustees and 58 percent of chief academic officers participating. Almost one-quarter of the respondents were from public institutions, and three-quarters were from private institutions.

Results of the survey were mixed, Ms. Johnston said. While slightly more than half of respondents said boards spend more time discussing student-learning outcomes now than they did five years ago, 61.5 percent said boards do not spend sufficient time in meetings on the issue. A smaller proportion—38.5 percent—said enough time was spent on the subject in board meetings.

"There is plenty of room for improvement," Ms. Johnston said