Impacts of performance-based accountability on institutional performance in the U.S.

Abstract

In the 1990s, most US states adopted new forms of performance-based accountability, e.g., performance-based budgeting, funding, or reporting. This study analyzed changes in institutional performance following the adoption of these new accountability standards. We measured institutional performance by representative education and research indicators-graduation rates and levels of federal research funding. We collected data from 1997 to 2007 and used a hierarchical linear modeling growth curve analysis. The main finding was that states which adopted performance-based accountability did not see a noticeable increase in institutional performance. In addition, we highlighted a critical policy issue-whether state and institutional factors contribute most to institutional performance in higher education.

Online Education, Accrediting Standards, and Student Success: An Examination of the Relationship Between the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges Standards for Online Education and Student Success

“…A quantitative study by Rabovsky (2012) exploring whether adoption of state accountability mechanism augmented institutional performance concluded like several studies (Orosz, 2012;Shin, 2010;Volkwein and Tanberg, 2008) According to this study, students were much more likely to be successful in programs that were accredited compared to unaccredited programs.…”

“…In the few instances where these studies have been conducted, the impact of accountability on higher education institutional performance and behavior has been determined to be relatively small, at best (Orosz, 2012). The majority of the studies conclude that the accountability effects on performance are either marginal or non-significant (Orosz, 2012;Rabovsky, 2012;Shin, 2010;Volkwein & Tanberg, 2008).…”

“…However, studies focused beyond the school level conclude that the achievement growth resulting from accountability measures is less than significant. Shin's (2010) study analyzing the impact of states' new accountability standards on changes in institutional performance in higher education produced results that indicated there was no noticeable increase in institutional performance by universities that had adopted new state accountability measures.…”

“…According to Newman and Newman, "predictive values can be replicated with consistency, which would give it a huge effect over time (Newman & Newman, 2000). Rosenthal and Rosnow (1991) Other studies examining the association between other accountability measures and student achievement have concluded that accountability measures are rarely the main contributor, and in fact, their effects are typically marginal or non-significant (Orosz, 2012;Rabovsky, 2012;Shin, 2010;Volkwein & Tanberg, 2008). However, Hanushek and Raymond (2004) temper these conclusions by suggesting that accountability measures, including standards, make possible higher levels of student achievement than would have occurred in the absence of these accountability measures.…”

Towards a Cognitive Cultural Approach to Public Management Reform

“…From these 13 articles, 4 studies actually try to define both the change content and the organizational context: Verbeeten (2008), Shin (2010), Willem and Buelens (2007) and Zafra-Gomez et al (2012). Only Willem and Buelens (2007) operationalize context in a concrete manner, using a substantial number of pre-existing and validated scales, as well as some newly-defined scales.…”