JOHNSON CITY—East Tennessee State University has earned a perfect score of 100 points in the 2000-01 Tennessee performance funding program, topping all of the state's public colleges and universities. No other university has earned the maximum 100 points in the last 16 years.
Performance funding is an incentive-based initiative for Tennessee public higher education that financially rewards universities and community colleges for results on selected measures of achievement.
This year's average score for Tennessee Board of Regents universities is 92, for University of Tennessee schools it is 94, and overall the average is 90.
“Although ETSU usually earns high scores, this is the first year we have achieved the maximum score since the program began in 1978,” says Dr. Cynthia Burnley, ETSU's director of performance funding and academic assessment, whose office is charged with compliance oversight of the funding plan.
“We are very gratified by this external validation of the extremely high quality of the performance of academic programs and services at ETSU,” said Dr. Bert C. Bach, provost and vice president for academic affairs. “These achievements represent a compelling recognition of the quality of our faculty, our programs, and those who provide academic services. ETSU students and future students can certainly take pride in this testimony to the quality of the academic experience the university provides.”
Through performance funding, the state's public colleges and universities can receive up to 5.45 percent over and above their annual state appropriations. This could mean an additional $93,000 for ETSU's 2002-03 budget. If the state's formula for higher education were fully funded, the amount for ETSU would exceed $2.3 million. The formula is now funded at approximately 87 percent.
Through a standardized testing program, performance funding measures students' general knowledge as well as their mastery of material in their major fields of study. Other areas evaluated are accreditation, academic program assessments, student satisfaction, transfer improvements, and retention. All of ETSU's accreditable programs are accredited. According to THEC, students and faculty are at the “heart” of the performance funding program that focuses on improved student outcomes resulting from the highest quality instruction.
Results of the performance funding program indicate that students' satisfaction with their academic, social, cultural, and overall experiences at ETSU has increased and exceeds state and national averages. More students in selected programs are returning to the university, and the transfer process into ETSU from other institutions has been improved by means of articulation agreements with two-year schools.
A new standard measures how well institutions use performance funding data in day-to-day management. ETSU was one of only two schools to earn the maximum points on this standard.
The Tennessee Higher Education Commission praised ETSU for having “the most outstanding plan submitted by any institution in either the TBR or UT systems.” According to the THEC, “In sum, the ETSU report sets a splendid benchmark. The report is to be commended for widespread involvement and engagement of faculty and staff; in the selective identification of curricular/problem areas; in the use of assessment data to spot areas for improvement; in the specification of improvement objectives and targets; and finally in framing a realistic plan for engaging the identified problem areas of general education and retention.”