Improving Measurement of Productivity in Higher Education (2012) / Chapter Skim
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6 Implementation and Data Recommendations
6 Implementation and Data Recommendations
Pages 107-124
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From page 107... ...
The model presented in Chapter 4 requires specific data inputs and, while considerable progress can be made using existing sources such as the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
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From page 108... ...
108 IMPROVING MEASUREMENT OF PRODUCTIVITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION · If outputs have declined while resources have increased or remained stable, has quality changed correspondingly? · How do productivity trends in comparable states, institutions, or depart ments compare?
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From page 109... ...
Basic institutional data on credits and de grees can be enhanced through linkages to longitudinal student data bases. In addition to their role in sharpening graduation rate statistics, longitudinal student surveys are needed to more accurately estimate degree costs, degree earnings value, and input/output quality.2 · Input/Cost information.
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notes that "the higher education community successfully lobbied to be exempted from these reporting requirements; thus the Census Bureau is blocked from gathering data and we lack even the most basic information about the education industry. For example, we do not know with any degree of detail who is employed in higher education, how much capital is being spent, or how many computers are being used." The higher education sector has not been covered in the economic census since 1977, when it was introduced there (it only appeared once)
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From page 111... ...
More comprehensive longitudinal student databases are essential for calculating better tailored and more clearly defined graduation rates and for estimating full degree costs and values. Box 6.1 summarizes IPEDS data that may be useful in the measurement of higher education productivity, enumerating its significant advantages and remaining challenges for its improvement.
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From page 112... ...
IPEDS collects detailed descriptive data from all public and private institutions in the United States that wish to be eligible for federal student financial aid, which almost all do. Productivity-Related Content Completions Degrees and certificates awarded are the only elements of the IPEDS sys tem that are broken down by discipline.
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From page 113... ...
Data on distribution of degrees granted across majors has been shown to be an important predictor of six-year graduation rates in many educational production function studies. Given this coverage, it is not clear that collecting data on departmental level progression of students makes sense, especially since there is so much movement of students across fields of study during their period of college enrollment.
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From page 114... ...
6.2.3. Administrative Data Sources Beyond IPEDS, a number of existing administrative databases can be tapped in constructing useful performance measures.
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From page 115... ...
, longitudinal files linking individuals' earning and their educational attainment can be created. BLS data and states' Unemployment Insurance Wage Records could be substitutes for this as well; typically, this kind of research must take place in census data centers.
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relative inexperience in linking methodologies to create comprehensive longitudinal databases. Federal action to standardize data definitions and to mandate institutional participation in such databases as a condition of receiving Title IV funding would help stimulate productive use.
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Wage record and employment data are among the most relevant for estimating productivity and efficiency measures. Unemployment Insurance Wage Record Data Under federal guidance, all states maintain databases of employed personnel and wages paid for the purpose of administering unemployment compensation programs.
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From page 118... ...
Second, each state maintains its own UI wage record file independently under the auspices of its labor department or workforce agency. And, whether for postsecondary education or employment, it is difficult to coordinate multi-state or national-level individual unit record databases.
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From page 119... ...
is a national postsecondary enrollment and degree warehouse that was established about fifteen years ago to house data on student loan recipients. It has since been expanded to include enrollment records for more than 94 percent of the nation's postsecondary enrollments and almost 90 percent of postsecondary degrees, essentially rendering it a national database.10 Its primary function is administrative, verifying attendance and financial aid eligibility for the Department of Education, among other things.
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From page 120... ...
. 12Baccalaureate and Beyond: http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/b%26b/; Beginning Postsecondary Students: http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/bps/; National Postsecondary Student Aid Survey: http://nces.
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From page 121... ...
conducts surveys on sciences and engineering graduate and postgraduate students.13 Information is collected on type of degree, degree field, and graduation date. Data items collected in NSF surveys are more attuned toward understanding the demographic characteristics, source of financial support and posteducation employment situation of graduates from particular fields of science, health, and engineering.
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From page 122... ...
ACS data thus provides descriptive statistics of educational status of various population groups (even in small geographic areas like census tracts) , but it lacks relevant information to calculate institutional productivity.
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From page 123... ...
youth population, one cannot calculate institutional productivity for single colleges or universities, unless a sufficient number of observations is available. The survey collects information on institutions attended by survey respondents.
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From page 124... ...
Among their drawbacks is that participation at institutional, faculty, and student level is optional; and facility to convert survey results to productivity measures has not been developed. 17Beginning College Survey of Student Engagement: http://bcsse.iub.edu/; Community College Faculty Survey of Student Engagement: http://www.ccsse.org/CCFSSE/CCFSSE.cfm/; Community College Survey of Student Engagement: http://www.ccsse.org/aboutsurvey/aboutsurvey.cfm/; Faculty Survey of Student Engagement: http://fsse.iub.edu/; Law School Survey of Student Engagement: http://lssse.iub.edu/about.cfm/; and National Survey of Student Engagement: http://nsse.iub.edu/html/ about.cfm/ [July 2012]
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