Higher Education Accountability System

"The people of the State of Texas expect the state to provide the highest quality of higher education."
- Governor Rick Perry

In January of 2004 Governor Perry, through Executive Order RP-31, called on the public technical colleges, state colleges, universities, and health-related institutions to work with the Higher Education Coordinating Board to develop a statewide higher education accountability system to evaluate the institutions' performance toward achieving statewide goals, identify steps which may be taken to improve higher education, and provide families with the means to determine which institutions meet the educational goals of their students.

In December of 2004 the Higher Education Accountability System was launched at the Higher Education Coordinating Board. This system is designed to provide the students, parents, policy-makers and the public with detailed information related to the four goals of the statewide Closing the Gaps plan, as well as an additional set of measures related to the efficiency with which the institutions operate.

The four goals of the Higher Education Coordinating Board's Closing the Gaps by 2015 plan are designed to facilitate improvement in four major areas of higher education: Participation, Success, Excellence, and Research.

The participation measures evaluate institutions on the number of students who are prepared, recruited and retained in higher education, while providing information on the costs of attending an institution.
The success measures provide information regarding the number of degrees and certificates awarded at all institutions, the graduation and retention rates, and information on targeted degree programs in areas of statewide demand.
The excellence measures describe the faculty to student ratios, graduate employment rates, class sizes, and certification rates on national exams.
The research measures provide information on the level of research which is carried out by the institutions and the amount of research dollars which are brought into the institutions.

The fifth category of measures within the Higher Education Accountability System is Institutional Efficiencies and Effectiveness. Within this category, institutions are evaluated with respect to the cost of educating students, maintaining facilities, faculty salaries, and administrative expenses.

Through the Higher Education Accountability System, Texans may learn more about the variety of institutions which are supported by state tax dollars and the quality of service that they provide. The system also provides a means of comparing each institution with similar institutions across the state in order to identify how these institutions are achieving stronger results with similar resources and improve the quality of programs and results across the state.

The Higher Education Accountability System is in the process of being expanded to include the 50 community college districts in order to provide a complete picture of public-funded higher education in the state.

The Higher Education Accountability System may be accessed at http://www.thecb.state.tx.us/Accountability/.