Final Recommendations of Performance Indicator Advisory Committee
Illinois has received a key piece of external validation that this approach works. In October 2002, the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education released its second national higher education report card, Measuring Up 2002, which grades states in five categories of key higher education performance indicators, including preparation for college, participation, affordability, degree completion, and benefits.3 The report card ranks Illinois third among all state systems of higher education in the nation, continuing the state’s status as one of the most elite higher education systems in the United States. Illinois has been in the top tier of all states on this report card, ranking 1st in 2000 and 3rd in 2002. This honor is a testament to the efforts made within Illinois’ system of higher education as well as to the support for higher education provided by the state’s citizens and political leaders over time.
Final Committee Recommendations on Statewide and Common Institutional Performance Indicators
This section of the report presents the final recommendations of the Committee to the IBHE on statewide and common institutional indicators. Recommendations on statewide and common institutional indicators are presented for each of the six goals of The Illinois Commitment, including the Committee’s rationale in selecting the indicators and related comments.
In August 2002, the Committee presented a preliminary report to the IBHE with recommendations on a set of 17 potential statewide indicators and 21 potential common institutional indicators for consideration and discussion by the IBHE and Illinois higher education community. Subsequent to this meeting, the Committee engaged in a comprehensive and systematic process of gathering public feedback on these preliminary recommendations including the following:
Discussions with Board members;
Meetings with the IBHE Faculty Advisory Council and Student Advisory Committee;
Discussions with other appropriate constituency groups including the Chief Academic Officers of Illinois public colleges and universities and the Illinois Association for Institutional Research (IAIR); and,
A “web survey” of over 800 individuals from throughout the Illinois higher education community and other interested parties on the preliminary recommendations that was completed by 250 respondents.
In developing the final recommendations on statewide and common institutional indicators, the Committee attempted to balance comprehensiveness in coverage with the guiding principle of minimizing the total number of indicators adopted within the context of the input provided on the preliminary recommendations. This was not an easy task given the complexity of Illinois’ system of higher education and the multi-dimensionality of the goals of The Illinois Commitment. However, as highlighted earlier, the Committee also recognized that the performance indicators will be an important complement to the many and varied accountability
3 The full 2002 report card can be found on the National Center’s web site, www.highereducation.org.
Illinois Board of Higher Education Page 5
