¶ … Measuring Up: The Promises and Pitfalls of Performance Indicators in Higher Education by Gaither, G. Nedwek, B.P. And Neal, J.E. Today, postsecondary institutions must compete for students, and faculty often must take on additional responsibilities besides teaching, and so, measures of accountability differ in each institution.
Reflective Review
Connecting individual and organizational performance is not always an easy task, as this article clearly indicates. The article states that since the 1980s, accountability and assessment have grown in importance in postsecondary education. In fact, by 1990, 40 out of the 50 states were "actively promoting assessment" in higher education. People were worried about the quality of undergraduate education, and all 50 states began working on ways to improve undergraduate education in their schools, and sometimes, funding shifted from outright educational funding, to funding tuned to "outcomes," "results," and "performance" (Gaither, et. al.). As accountability increased, many states copied each other's educational indicators, which lead to a commonality between assessment indicators and even results, and lead to many questions about how accountability is determined.
Faculties across the world have always wanted to determine their educational quality themselves, but the public need for information leads to creating other factors in determining accountability and educational excellence. The authors' are still "out" on whether the current factors are relevant and will continue to be relevant. As they note, "And the jury is still out on the results desired" (Gaither, et. al.). However, one thing is clear. As the roles of the college and the faculty continue to evolve, accountability for a quality postsecondary education must continue, even if the rules change from time to time. Because institutions must complete for enrollment, they must assure their potential student they are offering the best quality education available, and the faculty must often alter their roles as the needs of the institution evolve. Faculty must learn to be flexible, and so must the institution itself, and accountability is just one of the ways institutions can become more effective and successful.
Works Cited
Gaither, Gerald, and others. "Measuring Up: The Promises and Pitfalls of Performance Indicators in Higher Education." ERIC Digest. June 1995.
