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The importance of collecting and reporting data about the
performance of higher education institutions has increased
dramatically in the last ten years. According to the State
Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO), at least 21 states
require some type of annual accountability reports that include
performance measures. A report
by the Nelson Rockefeller Institute of Government indicated that 28
states, including Virginia, had or were intending to adopt some form
of budgeting based, in part, on performance measures. The
emergence of the importance of performance measures is
predictable. State governments, taxpayers, students, and parents
demand evidence that their funds are spent efficiently and on the
most important outcome--learning. If a parent is charged $10,000 or more per year in Virginia to educate his or her son
or daughter at a public four-year institution, it is only natural that
evidence of quality is desired. For FY 2002 the General Assembly
approved more than $1.4 billion in General Fund appropriations for
higher education instruction and student aid. It is understandable
that the Commonwealth expects evidence of performance. The trend is
for increased accountability information.
If defined well, performance measures may provide taxpayers, students, and parents
some useful
information upon which to make informed decisions about college
choice. Performance measures can add rationality to the ways in
which college choice and funding decisions are made.
The major concern with most performance measures is that they tend to
focus on data which can easily be obtained. Data such as graduation
and retention rates, percent of dollars spent on instruction, credit
hours taught per faculty member, and percentage of class sections
taught by full-time faculty are relatively easy to obtain and report, but do
not focus on the purpose of higher education--learning. Seldom can
one find learning measures in lists of state-wide performance measures. National
ratings like U.S. News & World Report do
not focus on learning. Instead they focus on input measures and the
reputation of institutions as measures of institutional quality. If
an institution enrolls high quality students (as measured by SAT
scores), has significant resources, and is perceived by other
presidents as being a high quality institution, it will be ranked at
or near the top of U.S. News & World Report's listings.
Performance Measures In Virginia
In 1999 the Governor's Blue Ribbon Commission on Higher Education
recommended that the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia
(SCHEV) develop a means to report on the performance of higher
education at each public institution. SCHEV, in cooperation with the
institutions, developed Reports of Institutional Effectiveness
(ROIE). Mandated by law, ROIE focuses on: accessibility
(percentage of applicants admitted, institutional size, and student
demographics); affordability (cost of tuition and fees,
percentage/number of students awarded financial aid); quality
(associated measures of quality such as faculty credentials and
class size, and, in some cases, direct measures of student
learning); and efficiency (appropriations and expenditures,
management standards).
ROIE measures consist of three sections on their Web site: profile measures
(descriptive statistics about the institution); system-wide measures
(fourteen measures of operational efficiency and academic quality);
and institution-specific measures (eleven measures contributing
special insights and context to the understanding of the institution
and what it values). You are invited to visit the ROIE Web site
listed below.
One of the major differences between JMU's institution-specific
measures and those of the other institutions is that JMU's measures
focus on learning. JMU's measures include:
- Information-Seeking Skills Test
- Basic Technological Skills Test
- Writing
- American History and Government
- Critical Thinking Test
- Oral Communication Test
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- Wellness and Human Development
- Arts and Humanities
- Quantitative Reasoning Test
- Natural World/Science Test
- Global Experience Test
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JMU Performance Measures
JMU continues to collect and report on a variety of
performance measures through different media. The Center for
Assessment and Research Studies (CARS) provides learning outcome
data for the ROIE. The Office of Institutional Research collects
profile and system-wide data for ROIE and other data for internal
monitoring, including a quarterly report card of performance
measures. The Division of Institutional Effectiveness maintains a
University Portfolio, a Web site that contains a profile of JMU and
evidences of JMU's effectiveness.
In the future it is expected that divisions and units will be
expected to develop and post performance measures. These may be
incorporated into the JMU Planning Database for ease of collection
and dissemination to the university community.
In summary, performance measures will be an important aspect of the
measurement of effectiveness of higher education for many years.
JMU, especially with its learning measures, is one of the leaders in the collection and
dissemination of performance measures.
The reader is encouraged to visit the links below to view the
different types of performance measures for JMU and other
institutions.
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