Cover: Measuring Value-Added in Higher Education

Measuring Value-Added in Higher Education

Published in: Measuring value-added in higher education (Washington, DC : HCM Strategists LLC, Sep. 2012), 32 p

Posted on RAND.org on September 01, 2012

by Jesse M. Cunha, Trey Miller

In this paper, we outline a practical guide for policymakers interested in developing institutional performance measures for the higher education sector. As our proposed measures adjust, at least partially, for pre-existing differences across students, we refer to them as input-adjusted outcome measures (IAOMs). We develop a general methodology for constructing IAOMs using student-level administrative data, we estimate IAOMs for one large U.S. state, and we discuss the merits and limitations of the available data sources in the context of our empirical analysis.

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