Improving Measurement of Productivity in Higher Education

Improving Measurement of Productivity in Higher Education PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309257743
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 197

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Book Description
Higher education is a linchpin of the American economy and society: teaching and research at colleges and universities contribute significantly to the nation's economic activity, both directly and through their impact on future growth; federal and state governments support teaching and research with billions of taxpayers' dollars; and individuals, communities, and the nation gain from the learning and innovation that occur in higher education. In the current environment of increasing tuition and shrinking public funds, a sense of urgency has emerged to better track the performance of colleges and universities in the hope that their costs can be contained without compromising quality or accessibility. Improving Measurement of Productivity in Higher Education presents an analytically well-defined concept of productivity in higher education and recommends empirically valid and operationally practical guidelines for measuring it. In addition to its obvious policy and research value, improved measures of productivity may generate insights that potentially lead to enhanced departmental, institutional, or system educational processes. Improving Measurement of Productivity in Higher Education constructs valid productivity measures to supplement the body of information used to guide resource allocation decisions at the system, state, and national levels and to assist policymakers who must assess investments in higher education against other compelling demands on scarce resources. By portraying the productive process in detail, this report will allow stakeholders to better understand the complexities of-and potential approaches to-measuring institution, system and national-level performance in higher education.

Improving Measurement of Productivity in Higher Education

Improving Measurement of Productivity in Higher Education PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309257743
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 197

Get Book

Book Description
Higher education is a linchpin of the American economy and society: teaching and research at colleges and universities contribute significantly to the nation's economic activity, both directly and through their impact on future growth; federal and state governments support teaching and research with billions of taxpayers' dollars; and individuals, communities, and the nation gain from the learning and innovation that occur in higher education. In the current environment of increasing tuition and shrinking public funds, a sense of urgency has emerged to better track the performance of colleges and universities in the hope that their costs can be contained without compromising quality or accessibility. Improving Measurement of Productivity in Higher Education presents an analytically well-defined concept of productivity in higher education and recommends empirically valid and operationally practical guidelines for measuring it. In addition to its obvious policy and research value, improved measures of productivity may generate insights that potentially lead to enhanced departmental, institutional, or system educational processes. Improving Measurement of Productivity in Higher Education constructs valid productivity measures to supplement the body of information used to guide resource allocation decisions at the system, state, and national levels and to assist policymakers who must assess investments in higher education against other compelling demands on scarce resources. By portraying the productive process in detail, this report will allow stakeholders to better understand the complexities of-and potential approaches to-measuring institution, system and national-level performance in higher education.

Improving Measurement of Productivity in Higher Education

Improving Measurement of Productivity in Higher Education PDF Author: National Research Council (U.S.). Panel on Measuring Higher Education Productivity, Conceptual Framework and Data Needs
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Education, Higher
Languages : en
Pages : 213

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Book Description
"Higher education is a linchpin of the American economy and society: teaching and research at colleges and universities contribute significantly to the nation's economic activity, both directly and through their impact on future growth; federal and state governments support teaching and research with billions of taxpayers' dollars; and individuals, communities, and the nation gain from the learning and innovation that occur in higher education. In the current environment of increasing tuition and shrinking public funds, a sense of urgency has emerged to better track the performance of colleges and universities in the hope that their costs can be contained without compromising quality or accessibility. Improving Measurement of Productivity in Higher Education presents an analytically well-defined concept of productivity in higher education and recommends empirically valid and operationally practical guidelines for measuring it. In addition to its obvious policy and research value, improved measures of productivity may generate insights that potentially lead to enhanced departmental, institutional, or system educational processes. Improving Measurement of Productivity in Higher Education constructs valid productivity measures to supplement the body of information used to guide resource allocation decisions at the system, state, and national levels and to assist policymakers who must assess investments in higher education against other compelling demands on scarce resources. By portraying the productive process in detail, this report will allow stakeholders to better understand the complexities of--and potential approaches to--measuring institution, system and national-level performance in higher education."--Publisher's description.

Productivity in Higher Education

Productivity in Higher Education PDF Author: Caroline M. Hoxby
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022657461X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 337

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Book Description
How do the benefits of higher education compare with its costs, and how does this comparison vary across individuals and institutions? These questions are fundamental to quantifying the productivity of the education sector. The studies in Productivity in Higher Education use rich and novel administrative data, modern econometric methods, and careful institutional analysis to explore productivity issues. The authors examine the returns to undergraduate education, differences in costs by major, the productivity of for-profit schools, the productivity of various types of faculty and of outcomes, the effects of online education on the higher education market, and the ways in which the productivity of different institutions responds to market forces. The analyses recognize five key challenges to assessing productivity in higher education: the potential for multiple student outcomes in terms of skills, earnings, invention, and employment; the fact that colleges and universities are “multiproduct” firms that conduct varied activities across many domains; the fact that students select which school to attend based in part on their aptitude; the difficulty of attributing outcomes to individual institutions when students attend more than one; and the possibility that some of the benefits of higher education may arise from the system as a whole rather than from a single institution. The findings and the approaches illustrated can facilitate decision-making processes in higher education.

Measuring Productivity in Education and Not-for-Profits

Measuring Productivity in Education and Not-for-Profits PDF Author: Kenneth Moore
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 9783030729677
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This book takes the reader through real-world examples for how to characterize and measure the productivity and performance of NFPs and education institutions—that is, organisations that produce value for society, which cannot be measured accurately in financial KPIs. It focuses on how best to frame non-profit performance and productivity, and provides a suite of tools for measurement and benchmarking. It further challenges the reader to consider alternative and appropriate uses of quantitative measures, which are fit-for-purpose in individual contexts. It is true that the risk of misusing quantitative measures is ever-present. But does that risk outweigh the benefits of forming a more precise and shared understanding of what could generate better outcomes? There will always be concerns about policy and performance management. Goodheart’s Law states that once a measure becomes a target, it is no longer a good measure. This book helps to strike a meaningful balance between what can be measured, what cannot, and how best to use quantitative information in sectors that are often averse to being held up to the light and put on a scale by outsiders.

Making Money Matter

Making Money Matter PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309172888
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
The United States annually spends over $300 billion on public elementary and secondary education. As the nation enters the 21st century, it faces a major challenge: how best to tie this financial investment to the goal of high levels of achievement for all students. In addition, policymakers want assurance that education dollars are being raised and used in the most efficient and effective possible ways. The book covers such topics as: Legal and legislative efforts to reduce spending and achievement gaps. The shift from "equity" to "adequacy" as a new standard for determining fairness in education spending. The debate and the evidence over the productivity of American schools. Strategies for using school finance in support of broader reforms aimed at raising student achievement. This book contains a comprehensive review of the theory and practice of financing public schools by federal, state, and local governments in the United States. It distills the best available knowledge about the fairness and productivity of expenditures on education and assesses options for changing the finance system.

Productivity Measurement and Improvement

Productivity Measurement and Improvement PDF Author: Robert Pritchard
Publisher: Praeger
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 412

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Book Description
Improving organizational productivity is an important current and future issue. The improvement can be effected by changing technology, or by changing the way in which people work. The concern of this work is how to structure work so that people can and will want to maximize their productivity using a special approach to measurement and improvement of organizational productivity defined by the author - ProMES (Productivity Measurement and Enchancement System). ProMES is a way of motivating people to maximize their productivity. This book describes a series of cases where ProMES was applied to improve productivity in service and manufacturing organizations in a variety of different organizations in different countries. Results indicate very large increases in productivity, much larger than those typically found. Lessons learned from these cases for future productivity improvement efforts are summarized.

Measuring Up in Higher Education

Measuring Up in Higher Education PDF Author: Anthony Welch
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 9811579210
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 391

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Book Description
This book examines the quality assessment movement in academic scholarship, as globalization prompts a search for global measures of university services and output. It gauges productivity in terms of universal publication metrics, and considers ranking and research productivity from a comparative perspective. The book considers the use of the “impact factor” as a gauge of publication value, noting that this less important in countries lacking central government appropriations to universities and to research. It argues that pressure to publish in certain journals, and to research topics of interest to English language readers, has been felt differentially in English-language systems, compared to others, but also that performance pressures fall more on younger, more juniour, contract staff, than on senior and tenured professors. It problematizes international comparisons of quality, and analyses the benefits of a zone of ideas and metrics in a common language – promoting international mobility, efficiency, collaboration - but also the costs which are rarely borne equally across countries, languages and cultures. The book provides a strong, evidence-based contribution to major debates in contemporary higher education reforms and the measurement of academic output.

The European Higher Education Area

The European Higher Education Area PDF Author: Adrian Curaj
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319208772
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 898

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Book Description
Bridging the gap between higher education research and policy making was always a challenge, but the recent calls for more evidence-based policies have opened a window of unprecedented opportunity for researchers to bring more contributions to shaping the future of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). Encouraged by the success of the 2011 first edition, Romania and Armenia have organised a 2nd edition of the Future of Higher Education – Bologna Process Researchers’ Conference (FOHE-BPRC) in November 2014, with the support of the Italian Presidency of the European Union and as part of the official EHEA agenda. Reuniting over 170 researchers from more than 30 countries, the event was a forum to debate the trends and challenges faced by higher education today and look at the future of European cooperation in higher education. The research volumes offer unique insights regarding the state of affairs of European higher education and research, as well as forward-looking policy proposals. More than 50 articles focus on essential themes in higher education: Internationalization of higher education; Financing and governance; Excellence and the diversification of missions; Teaching, learning and student engagement; Equity and the social dimension of higher education; Education, research and innovation; Quality assurance, The impacts of the Bologna Process on the EHEA and beyond and Evidence-based policies in higher education. "The Bologna process was launched at a time of great optimism about the future of the European project – to which, of course, the reform of higher education across the continent has made a major contribution. Today, for the present, that optimism has faded as economic troubles have accumulated in the Euro-zone, political tensions have been increased on issues such as immigration and armed conflict has broken out in Ukraine. There is clearly a risk that, against this troubled background, the Bologna process itself may falter. There are already signs that it has been downgraded in some countries with evidence of political withdrawal. All the more reason for the voice of higher education researchers to be heard. Since the first conference they have established themselves as powerful stakeholders in the development of the EHEA, who are helping to maintain the momentum of the Bologna process. Their pivotal role has been strengthened by the second Bucharest conference." Peter Scott, Institute of Education, London (General Rapporteur of the FOHE-BPRC first edition)

Ensuring Quality and Productivity in Higher Education

Ensuring Quality and Productivity in Higher Education PDF Author: Susan M. Gates
Publisher: Jossey-Bass
ISBN: 9780787958404
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
A detailed review of the quality assurance and productivity oversight processes being applied today by agencies given the task of assessing and evaluating education and professional development activities, this book identifies what is working well, and what could be improved. Using the results of a Rand research study conducted, the authors present four successful approaches, key factors to consider and critical lessons learned about the assessment process. Using documentation of organizations engaged in assessment, interviews with experts, conferences, and site visits, the authors also examine the main task of assessment to focus on quality and productivity of specific providers and explore the overall purpose of such studies to provide a higher-level assessment of the system as a whole. They analyze these two main purposes of assessment as they impact stakeholder and system-level needs as well as provide opportunities for program-wide improvements. This book also discusses the emerging trend of corporate learning organizations, and demonstrates how such organizations are now indispensable tools in promoting communications among stakeholders and developing strong links between professional development programs and the system's basic mission. The authors analyze key similitaries and differences among the approaches studied and present four basic models of assessment and evaluation. Each model's strengths and specific applicable characteristics are classified with six crucial factors most important to consider when deciding what model might serve your system best. Three key steps in the process of assessment, regardless of the model selected or the system assessed, are detailed with the several lessons learned in the field concerning their successful application. Finally, for providers in professional development courses meeting the challenge of a lack of preexisting evaluation tools, guidelines for developing measures of learning outcomes are presented with their specific needs in mind.

Evidence-Based Productivity Improvement

Evidence-Based Productivity Improvement PDF Author: Robert D. Pritchard
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136587772
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 318

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Book Description
This new book explains the Productivity Measurement and Enhancement system (ProMES) and how it meets the criteria for an optimal measurement and feedback system. It summarizes all the research that has been done on productivity, mentioning other measurement systems, and gives detailed information on how to implement this one in organizations. This book will be of interest to behavioral science researchers and professionals who wish to learn more about the practical methods of measuring and improving organizational productivity.