Policies on Faculty Reward Structures: Report from the States -- Why Are States Involved?

Policies on Faculty Reward Structures: Report from the States

Why Are States Involved?

HIGHER EDUCATION ACCOUNTABILITY PLANS

In Washington, the legislature placed a portion of each institution's 1997-99 appropriation in reserve, contingent upon board approval of an accountability plan (for 1997-98) and the board's assessment of institutional performance toward accountability targets (for 1998-1999). Faculty productivity is one of five measures of accountability. Strategies that institutions will use to assess faculty productivity include:

Eastern Washington University plans to increase the number of faculty who use compressed video/World Wide Web for distance education.

The University of Washington plans to invite students to assess the extent to which professors contributed to what they learned in a course.

Contact: Thomas M. Sykes, Deputy Director, Higher Education Coordinating Board, (360)753-7890) or toms@hecb.wa.gov

A variety of issues have heightened interest among state policymakers in faculty reward structures. Across the WICHE states:

Accountability is ranked very important by all systems with the exception of the two-year system in Oregon.

Faculty productivity, budget constraints, and information technology are the secondary issues identified for four-year institutions.

Community college systems list faculty productivity and information technologies as secondary issues.

Only Alaska, Oregon, and Washington, report institutional mission drift as an important issue for four-year institutions. Alaska and Nevada rate institutional mission drift important for two-year colleges.

In Hawaii, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Utah, policymakers are concerned with faculty morale when framing state policies on faculty reward structures.

Issues related to enrollment growth and the need for instructional innovation were state-specific, with some states rating these issues as very important and others responding that both issues were relatively unimportant.

What is striking in these results is that, among the WICHE states, faculty reward structures are seen as important for seven of the nine issues. Faculty morale and institutional mission drift are the only two issues rated unimportant by most state systems.