The Science of Higher Education

State Higher Education Policy and the Laws of Scale

Mario C. Martinez (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

216 Seiten

2021
Stylus Publishing (Verlag)
978-1-64267-088-2 (ISBN)

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Perennial conclusions from state-by-state funding-per-student analyses of underfunding and weak state commitment have become so common that they have diluted the potency of the argument to state policymakers for more higher education funding. In addition, there has been little in the way of testing or questioning the assumptions embedded in traditional funding per student analysis and its accompanying conclusions.As state legislators balance the competing needs of education, health, transportation, and public safety budgets, they increasingly ask what return on investment (ROI) they get for the funding they provide, including from higher education. The ROI language, while potentially unsettling for its corporate-like and neoliberal connotation, will persist into the foreseeable future. We must ask questions both of adequacy (How much funding should the states provide?) and benefit (What benefits do states receive for the higher education funding they provide?). The focus on traditional funding per student analysis has remained static for over forty years, indicating the need for new ideas and methods to probe questions of adequacy and benefit.The Science of Higher Education is an introduction to a new paradigm that explores state higher education funding, enrollment, completion, and supply (the number and type of institutions in a state) through the lens of what are commonly known as power laws. Power laws explain patterns in biological systems and characteristics of cities. Like cities, state higher education systems are complex adaptive systems, so it is little surprise that power laws also explain funding, enrollment, completion, and supply.The scale relationships uncovered in the Science of Higher Education suggest the potential benefits state policymakers could derive by emphasizing enrollment, completion, or capacity policies, based on economies of scale, marginal benefits, and the return state’s get on enrollment and completion for the funding they provide.The various features of state higher education systems that conform to scale patterns do not alone provide definitive answers for appropriate funding levels, however. As this book addresses, policymakers need to take into account the macro forces, from demography to geography and the economy, that situate the system, as well the interactions between government and market actors that are at the core of every state higher education system and influence the outcomes it achieves.

Mario C. Martinez is Vice Chancellor of Strategy and Innovation for the National University System. He has written several books in the area of higher education innovation, strategy and policy. He is a founding partner of SoftSkillsPros.com, a training and resource company serving higher education institutions and the many professionals who work within them. Scott L. Thomas is John P. “Jack” Ellbogen Dean of the College of Education at the University of Wyoming.

Foreword Acknowledgments Preface Part One 1. Foundations for a Science of Higher Education 1. Complex Systems and State Higher Education 2. A New Paradigm 3. Actor Interactions. Nature and Context Part Two. Scale Patterns 4. Lessons from Life Sciences and Cities 5. Scale and State Higher Education Funding 6. Scale and State Policy 7. Higher Education Supply Part Three. Outcomes and Return on Investment 8. Higher Education Outcomes 9. Return on Investment. Funding and Outcomes 10. Policy Implications Appendix 1. Glossary of Terms Appendix 2. 2015 All State Data (original units. Appendix 3. Logarithmic Regression Results (Predictions. Appendix 4. Population. Funding Scale Results Appendix 5. Population. Enrollment Scale Results Appendix 6. Population. Completion Scale Results Appendix 7. Population. # of Institutions (Supply. Scale Results Appendix 8. Funding. Enrollment Scale Results Appendix 9. Funding. Completion Scale Results Appendix 10. Statistical results. All Scale Analyses Appendix 11. Linear and Scale Ranking Comparisons Appendix 12. Exponents, Logarithms and Scale References End Notes About the Author Index

Erscheinungsdatum	12.08.2021
Sprache	englisch
Maße	152 x 229 mm
Gewicht	417 g
Themenwelt	Sozialwissenschaften ► Pädagogik ► Allgemeines / Lexika
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Pädagogik ► Bildungstheorie
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Pädagogik ► Erwachsenenbildung
ISBN-10	1-64267-088-X / 164267088X
ISBN-13	978-1-64267-088-2 / 9781642670882
Zustand	Neuware