 January/February 2001 |
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SCHEV Approves Performance MeasuresBy Daniel Walsch
To make the commonwealth’s public colleges and universities more accountable, the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia recently approved 14 systemwide performance measures as part of its 2001 Reports of Institutional Effectiveness. The performance measures, according to SCHEV Chairman John D. Padgett, focus on two key areas of institutional effectiveness: academic quality and operational efficiency. The academic quality measures will demonstrate students’ success during their higher education experience and after graduation. The operational efficiency measures will demonstrate an institution’s effectiveness in the use of its fiscal, human, and physical resources. “By agreeing on a core set of systemwide measures, SCHEV is now well on its way to being able to document, clearly articulate, and then celebrate what’s right in Virginia higher education and focus attention on where to improve what’s not,” says Padgett. In developing the performance measures, SCHEV spent the summer and fall consulting with individuals from each of Virginia’s 15 public institutions of higher learning. Developing these measures has been “an intensely collaborative effort,” says Padgett. At George Mason University, the primary contacts were Provost Peter Stearns, Senior Vice President Maurice Scherrens, and Thomas Hennessey, chief of staff to the president. “We worked closely with SCHEV in developing the standards,” says Stearns. “We are comfortable with what has been adopted as we find each to be appropriate and feasible.” The 14 systemwide performance measures adopted by SCHEV
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