Plotting the Education Scorecard

When it comes to the development of the education scorecard, then it would really be helpful to check performance metrics that the topnotch universities make use of today. These metrics act as track indicators that measure the quality of the education offered by the university as well as that of program budgeting. Apart from these, university metrics are also used to measure the strength of a university’s research programs.

These metrics can actually be quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative metrics are pretty much simple when it comes to measurement because they are already quantifiable in nature. One such example of a quantitative metric is the assessment of research funding. This is an easy metric to measure because all you virtually need to do is assess the effectiveness of research funding there.

However, qualitative metrics are not really that easy to measure. It can be very difficult to estimate the value of quality improvement based on quantitative aspects. Just how confusing can this be? Take a look at the qualitative metric of the increase in the number of graduates in an academic year. If you think about it, it is so easy to assume that this is an indication of improvement in terms of course availability and student advising. After all, there are more students graduating in an academic year, right? However, this is not always the case at all. Sadly, this could very well be an indication of the rigor of coursework degrading or declining. Since such rigor is declining, then it would be easier for more and more students to graduate in an academic year.

There is also the possibility that universities would include metrics on their education scorecards that are not really that useful. For instance, a university could include the qualitative metric of percentage of graduates rating overall university experience as excellent. If you think about it, this could be a useful metric, in getting the perspective of students as to how they view their university experience. This can also be used in measuring quality, as presumed by so many people when developing university metrics. However, you cannot really expect this particular metric to be effective because students would surely use different aspects as criteria in measuring overall university experience. Without a standard form of measurement, this qualitative metric would not serve its purpose at all. This is precisely why you need to be careful in choosing your quantity targets; make sure the ones you choose would really reflect the quality of education.

Some of the metrics that make the scorecards universities use include the proportion of graduating students, the undergraduate degrees that are conferred by each faculty member in an academic year, the time-to-degree on the average, and the number of classes faculty members teach, as expected by the university. There are also times when the measures would have to be process-oriented. The actual course enrolment and the credit hours taught to students are common examples of metrics that are process-oriented.

The underlying principle here is to choose metrics that are very relevant to your university. When you have these metrics on your education scorecard, then you can expect your scorecard to be very effective.