A new report from the Institute for Higher Education
Policy (IHEP) proposed a new metrics framework to help institutions measure
student performance. The report lists performance, efficiency, and equity as the measures by which colleges and
universities can better serve students of all backgrounds.
The metrics are designed to assess students’ access,
progress, completion, cost, and postcollege outcomes. They also look at college
affordability, how resources impact completion, and the experience of all
students.
“This
report draws on the knowledge and experience of higher-education leaders and
experts to lay out in detail the metrics we should be collecting—and explains
why those data will make a difference for all students, but particularly for
those who traditionally have been underserved by higher education,” said IHEP
President Michelle Cooper in a report for eCampus News. “Until now, only
some institutions have been willingly and voluntarily collecting data to answer
critical questions about who attends college, who succeeds in and after
college, and how college is financed. But, the field needs a core set of
comprehensive and comparable higher ed metrics and should incorporate those
metrics into federal and state data systems. Doing so will make the data
available for all students in all institutions, not only those who
voluntarily collect and report it.”
