Washington State's performance-based funding formula has failed to move the needle on community college student completion rates, according to a newly released research paper. But officials at the state’s two-year college system are contesting the study’s findings.
Begun in 2006, Washington's Student Achievement Initiativeis considered to be one of higher education’s best and most extensive performance-funding models. It ties student retention and graduation rates -- as well as factors like class completion in mathematics -- to state support.
The researchers chose to analyze the formula's impact because it is a well-respected version of an idea that has caught on among state and federal policy makers.
"Considering the popularity of Washington's performance funding model, we are surprised the impacts on associate's degree productivity are so modest," wrote the study's co-authors, who are Nicholas Hillman of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, David Tandberg of Florida State University and Alisa Hicklin Fryar of the University Oklahoma.
Read more at Inside Higher Ed: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/01/14/questions-about-whether-washington-states-funding-formula-increases-student