Performance Indicators and Rational Management Tools: A Comparative Assessment of Projects in North America and Europe. AIR 1993 Annual Forum Paper.

This study developed a classification scheme to critically compare performance assessment projects at higher education universities in North America and Europe. Performance indicators and assessment initiatives were compared using nine basic dimensions: (1) locus of control, (2) degree of governmental involvement, (3) focus of performance indicators, (4) sources of quality variation, (5) data selection, (6) intended audiences, (7) emphasis of use, (8) impact on student learning, and (9) relationship to institutional mission. A sample of six systems of generation performance indicators was examined using the nine criteria; the six systems are: National Education Goals (United States National System); Critical Choices (United States State System); Key Success Indices (United States Institutional System); The Committee for Vice Chancellors and Principals listing of performance indicators (British National System); Queen's University (Canadian Model); and MONEY magazine (United States Media System). Analysis found that performance indicators are mostly variations of input/output mechanistic thinking, that remarkable similarities exist between North American and European initiatives, that most models are unprepared to address conversion or process variables, that most are built on an assumption that outcomes can be attributed to something in the system or institution, and that the absence of linkages back to the learning environment leaves internal decisionmakers without information to correct causes that explain variations in quality. (Contains 92 references.) (JB)