In this chapter, the author presents suggestions for improving the effectiveness of external reporting while minimizing burden. Recommendations include repurposing existing internal reports to address the needs of external reports.

This chapter describes the system office for community college institutional research for the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. What makes this System Offices for Community College Institutional Research (SOCCIR) somewhat different from the others reviewed in this volume is that the Minnesota system IR office has responsibilities for both…

This chapter describes the system office for community college institutional research (SOCCIR) for the State of Florida. The Division of Florida Colleges has a long history of providing reports that contain information on issues of interest to both the individual members of the system and the public. Fact books have been produced by the office for…

Understanding the suitability of multilevel modeling in the context of institutional research (IR) may ease the doubts of some IR professionals. However, the need for training on how to conduct and report multilevel modeling analysis remains. A major roadblock hindering the proliferation of multilevel modeling in IR is the perception that…

Reporting occupies a central place in institutional research but is ongoing and never completed. With automation and data management, the proportion of time spent on either routine or ad hoc reporting should decline. This function need not draw unnecessarily from resources for more interesting work. (MSE)

Examines the coverage, content, and customers of higher education performance reports, along with their purposes, priorities, initiation methods, and emerging changes in their style and substance. (EV)

Compares the results from the National Center for Public Policy in Higher Education's state report cards and state performance reports, and notes that the states with performance reports received no better grades than those without them. (EV)

Reviews the prospects, problems, and possibilities of performance reporting in higher education and discusses two fundamental flaws in performance reporting. (EV)

Traces the rise of the "new accountability" in higher education and describes the policy responses of outcomes assessment, performance funding and budgeting, and performance reporting. (EV)

Summarizes results of an opinion survey of governors' aides, legislative chairs of education committees, higher education finance officers, and campus institutional researchers on the use, effects, and future of performance reporting. (EV)

The performance types, concerns, policy values, and models of excellence implied in higher education performance reporting indicators are identified, and the use of performance measures by two- and four-year campuses are compared. (EV)