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In his latest blog post, Western Washington University president Bruce Shepard offers feedback on the idea, posed by several legislators, of the state moving to "performance-based" funding for higher education in the next biennium.

Shepard begins:

My answer: "Bring it on. Top performing university that we are, Western welcomes any funding so based because we know we can beat the socks off the competition."

True as it may be, that's still president-speak. Perhaps at its worst. I am also an academic, and the question deserves thoughtful reflection.

And, our legislators want and deserve more thorough analysis. Washington is a state that attracts thoughtful problem solvers to elected office, not folks who want to simply joust with issues using clichés and sound bites. Poli sci guy that I am, I much enjoy such relationships. I really do not care about partisan commitments and ideologies so long as folks are listening and learning in order to effectively fulfill increasingly challenging public duties. And, Washington has many, many such real leaders.

Have been meeting with a number of them: our Washington legislators. Conversations while the legislature is not in session are particularly pleasurable because our elected officials can take the time to really engage. Coffee fanatic that I am (I roast my own beans every week), I also enjoy meeting with them in their districts, usually at a local one-off coffee shop new to me.

Directly connecting university funding to measures of performance is something I have been hearing a lot about. Makes great good sense at first blush, perhaps even more so during tough budget times.

The subject is nothing new. I first encountered it about 25 years ago. And, that is my first point in talking with legislators: there are several decades of experimentation in other states, all consistent failures, and we had best learn from these others and not just plunge in with the risk of repeating their mistakes. Let's do the research.

I first encountered performance-based funding long ago while working at two institutions that were part of the Oregon University System. As that funding approach was refined and refined to be made valid and reliable, it got more and more complex. I finally ended up referring to it as "a full employment act for institutional researchers." It turned out that the staff I would have to hire to track all the measures was going to cost more than the "performance penalty" we would have to pay if we failed to measure up. ...

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