Evaluating the Impacts of "New" Performance Funding in Higher Education

In 2007, Washington adopted the Student Achievement Initiative, a statewide performance accountability system designed to improve retention rates and degree productivity among community colleges. Using dijference-in-differences analysis, we found that the policy change has had little immediate effec...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Educational evaluation and policy analysis 2015-12, Vol.37 (4), p.501-519
Main Authors: Hillman, Nicholas W., Tandberg, David A., Fryar, Alisa H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic Achievement
Accountability
Associate Degrees
Community Colleges
Comparative Analysis
Credentials
Educational Attainment
Educational Change
Educational Finance
Educational Policy
Higher Education
Labor market
Performance Based Assessment
Policy Analysis
Productivity
Regression (Statistics)
Rewards
School Holding Power
Washington
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Summary:In 2007, Washington adopted the Student Achievement Initiative, a statewide performance accountability system designed to improve retention rates and degree productivity among community colleges. Using dijference-in-differences analysis, we found that the policy change has had little immediate effect on retention rates or associate's degree productivity. However, community colleges produced more short-term certificates after the policy reform. These results are robust across many alternative comparison groups. Considering that certificates yield less value in the labor market than associates degrees but are easier for colleges to produce, we discuss the unintended consequences of rewarding colleges based on the number of credentials they produce.
ISSN:0162-3737
1935-1062
DOI:10.3102/0162373714560224