Policy and Performance in American Higher Education: An Examination of Cases across State Systems

281 Pages·2009·1.41 MB·English

by  Richard Richardson Jr.

Policy and Performance in American
Higher Education
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Policy and Performance in American
Higher Education
An Examination of Cases across State Systems
(cid:2) (cid:2) (cid:2)
richard richardson, jr.
and
mario martinez
Th e Johns Hopkins University Press
Baltimore
© 2009 Th e Johns Hopkins University Press
All rights reserved. Published 2009
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 1
Th e Johns Hopkins University Press
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Richardson, Richard C.
Policy and performance in American higher education :
an examination of cases across state systems /
Richard Richardson, Jr., and Mario Martinez.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8018-9161-8 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-8018-9161-2 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Education, Higher—United States. 2. Higher education and state—
United States—States—Case studies. 3. Education, Higher—United
States—States—Case studies. I. Martinez, Mario, 1967– II. Title.
LC173.R53 2009
378.73—dc22 2008037852
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Contents
Foreword, by Patrick M. Callan vii
Preface xi
 Strengthening the Policy–Performance Connection 1
 Rules in Use and Performance 21
 New Mexico 39
with contributions by Maria Emilia Martinez
 California 70
with contributions by Nancy Shulock
 South Dakota 119
 New York 145
 New Jersey 187
with contributions by Michael W. Klein
 New Ways of Th inking about Policy
and Performance 223
Appendix: Rules Observed, Including Th ose Not Associated
with Diff erences in Performance 243
References 249
Index 257
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Foreword
Th e knowledge-based global economy, demographic shifts, and intensifi ed
economic and educational competition have converged over the past decade
to raise the salience of higher education performance as a public policy con-
cern for state and national governments. Th e “fl at” world economy rewards
individuals, communities, states, and nations that succeed in developing hu-
man talent—particularly college-level knowledge and skills—and it relent-
lessly penalizes the undereducated. Postsecondary education and training are
necessary for both individual opportunity and national economic competi-
tiveness. As governments have come to understand the advantages of higher
levels of educational attainment for larger proportions of their populations,
college access and completion rates have increased dramatically in most mar-
ket-economy countries.
For the United States, although higher education accountability is a pe-
rennial public policy issue, the emphasis on performance is relatively recent.
Th e aftermath of World War II saw two critically important changes in state
and federal higher education. Th e fi rst was the continuation of federally sup-
ported research and development at major universities. Largely justifi ed by
the public priority of national defense, federal support broadened to cover ad-
vanced education in almost all disciplines. Th e second was the unprecedented
growth of enrollments as returning veterans benefi ted from the GI Bill. For
many years, public and institutional priorities were closely aligned within a
consensus that the priorities for higher education policy were growth, ex-
pansion, capacity building, and, for the states, institutional support. In this
context, accountability focused, appropriately I believe, on inputs and re-
sources—dollars, students, faculty, and the like.
Th is alignment of goals, or consensus, through much of the second half
of the twentieth century contributed to an approach to public accountability
that was highly deferential to the academic community. Examples include the
acceptance of input measures to act as proxies for quality, and governmen-
viii foreword
tal reliance on institutionally controlled accreditation instead of more direct
measures of eff ectiveness. Most of the current state structures for higher edu-
cation governance and decision making were established in the last half of the
twentieth century, and many have not yet been adapted to the present one.
Th e principal contemporary public policy concern is infl uencing the perfor-
mance of colleges and universities, not building new capacity.
Although standard of living and economic competitiveness rely on post-
secondary education participation and degree attainment, this vital depen-
dence is less visible than university research and development. While pub-
lic support for higher education access is consistently high, the most direct
benefi ciaries of increased opportunity—students and their families—are not
an identifi able pressure group. However, many state and federal leaders, well
aware of the challenges of the global marketplace, have focused energetically,
if not always eff ectively, on higher education performance. Th is is refl ected
in the development, revision, and restructuring of many state accountability
systems and in the recent National Commission on Higher Education that
made performance and public accountability the centerpiece of its policy rec-
ommendations.
In developing performance-based approaches to public accountability,
policy leaders have come to recognize that colleges and universities can per-
form at a high level in ways that compete with, or at least fail to eff ectively
address, public priorities. In fact, there is a growing mismatch between insti-
tutional aspirations and public needs. Institutions often seek higher prestige
rankings, enlarged levels of expenditures, and enhancement of their institu-
tional missions (mission creep); the nation and the states need more Ameri-
cans with greater levels of postsecondary knowledge and competence—the
public agenda for increased rates of access and attainment. As this gap be-
tween institutional and public agendas has widened, it has led to divergent
concepts of quality and institutional eff ectiveness that are sometimes masked
as diff erences over performance indicators, measurement, and assessment.
Th ere is less consensus now among public policy leaders and the professional
academic community than in the past on the outcomes and performance gov-
ernment expects of colleges and universities.
In this book, Richard Richardson, Mario Martinez, and their colleagues
have addressed the central contemporary higher education policy issue: the
infl uence of public policy on higher education performance. Th eir state case
studies are a rich and rigorous basis for their analysis of the linkages and the
disconnections between policy and performance. Th e comparative focus on
foreword ix
the rules in use and the infl uence of these on key actors and on state higher
education performance off ers a powerful framework for interpreting the case
studies. Th eir fi ndings and conclusions will challenge practitioners seeking to
improve state policy. Th is is a bold, innovative, and groundbreaking contribu-
tion to higher education policy, one that is certain to shape future research in
this fi eld.
Patrick M. Callan
President
National Center for Public Policy
and Higher Education
San Jose, California