Reexamining the Federal Role in Higher Education: Politics and Policymaking in the Postsecondary Sector

This book provides a comprehensive description of the federal government's relationship with higher education and how that relationship became so expansive and indispensable over time. Drawing from constitutional law, social science research, federal policy documents, and original interviews with key policy insiders, the author explores the U.S. government's role in regulating, financing, and otherwise influencing higher education. Natow analyzes how the government's role has evolved over time, the activities of specific governmental branches and agencies that affect higher education, the nature of the government's role in higher education today, and prospects for the future of federal involvement in higher education. Chapters examine the politics and practices that shape policies affecting nondiscrimination and civil rights, student financial aid, educational quality and student success, campus crime, research and development, intellectual property, student privacy, and more. Book Features: <ul> <li>Provides a contemporary and thorough understanding of how federal higher education policies are created, implemented, and influenced by federal and nonfederal policy actors.</li> <li>Situates higher education policy within the constitutional, political, and historical contexts of the federal government.</li> <li>Offers nuanced perspectives informed by insider information about what occurs "behind the scenes" in the federal higher education policy arena.</li> <li>Includes case studies illustrating the profound effects federal policy processes have on the everyday lives of college students, their families, institutions, and other higher education stakeholders.</li> </ul>

Education & Teaching

Natow, Rebecca S.

Higher & Continuing Education

Teachers' College Press

This book provides a comprehensive description of the federal government's relationship with higher education and how that relationship became so expansive and indispensable over time. Drawing from constitutional law, social science research, federal policy documents, and original interviews with key policy insiders, the author explores the U.S. government's role in regulating, financing, and otherwise influencing higher education. Natow analyzes how the government's role has evolved over time, the activities of specific governmental branches and agencies that affect higher education, the nature of the government's influence today, and prospects for the future of federal involvement in higher education. Chapters examine the politics and practices that shape policies affecting nondiscrimination and civil rights, student financial aid, educational quality and student success, campus crime, research and development, intellectual property, student privacy, and more. Book Features: <ul> <li>Provides a contemporary and thorough understanding of how federal higher education policies are created, implemented, and influenced by federal and nonfederal policy actors.</li> <li>Situates higher education policy within the constitutional, political, and historical contexts of the federal government.</li> <li>Offers nuanced perspectives informed by insider information about what occurs behind the scenes in the federal higher education policy arena.</li> <li>Includes case studies illustrating the profound effects federal policy processes have on the everyday lives of college students, their families, institutions, and other higher education stakeholders.</li> </ul>

The first nation-wide analysis of the politics of performance funding in higher education.
Performance funding ties state support of colleges and universities directly to institutional performance on specific outcomes, including retention, number of credits accrued, graduation, and job placement. The theory is that introducing market-like forces will prod institutions to become more efficient and effective. In The Politics of Performance Funding for Higher Education, Kevin J. Dougherty and Rebecca S. Natow explore the sometimes puzzling evolution of this mode of funding higher education. Drawing on an eight-state study of performance funding in Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Washington, Dougherty and Natow shed light on the social and political factors affecting the origins, evolution, and demise of these programs. Their findings uncover patterns of frequent adoption, discontinuation, and re-adoption.
Of the thirty-six states that have ever adopted performance funding, two-thirds discontinued it, although many of those later re-adopted it. Even when performance funding programs persist over time, they can undergo considerable changes in both the amount of state funding and in the indicators used to allocate funding. Yet performance funding continues to attract interest from federal and state officials, state policy associations, and major foundations as a way of improving educational outcomes.
The authors explore the various forces, actors, and motives behind the adoption, discontinuation, and transformation of performance funding programs. They compare U.S. programs to international models, and they gauge the likely future of performance funding, given the volatility of the political forces driving it. Aimed at educators, sociologists, political scientists, and policy makers, this book will be hailed as the definitive assessment of the origins and evolution of performance funding.

The Politics of Performance Funding for Higher Education: Origins, Discontinuations, and Transformations

Politics & Social Sciences

Dougherty, Kevin J.

Sociology

Johns Hopkins University Press

A rigorous analysis of the impact―and implications―of performance funding for higher education.
Seeking greater accountability in higher education, many states have adopted performance funding, tying state financial support of colleges and universities directly to institutional performance based on specific outcomes such as student retention, progression, and graduation. Now in place in over thirty states, performance funding for higher education has been endorsed by the US Department of Education and major funders like the Gates and Lumina foundations. Focusing on three states that are regarded as leaders in the movement―Indiana, Ohio, and Tennessee―Performance Funding for Higher Education presents the findings of a three-year research study on its implementation and impacts. 
Written by leading authorities and drawing on extensive interviews with government officials and college and university staff members, this book describes the policy instruments states use to implement performance funding; explores the organizational processes colleges rely on to determine how to respond to performance funding; analyzes the influence of performance funding on institutional policies and programs; reviews the impacts of performance funding on student outcomes; examines the obstacles institutions encounter in responding to performance funding demands; investigates the unintended impacts of performance funding. 
The authors conclude that, while performance funding clearly grabs the attention of colleges and leads them to change their policies and practices, it also encounters major obstacles and has unintended impacts. Colleges subject to performance funding are hindered in posting good results by inappropriate performance measures, insufficient organizational infrastructure, and the commitment to enroll many students who are poorly prepared or not interested in degrees. These obstacles help explain why multivariate statistical studies have failed to date to find a significant impact of performance funding on student outcomes, and why colleges are tempted to resort to weakening academic quality and restricting the admission of less-prepared and less-advantaged students in order to improve their apparent performance. 
These findings have wide-ranging implications for policy and research. Ultimately, the authors recommend that states create new ways of helping colleges with many at-risk students, define performance indicators and measures better tailored to institutional missions, and improve the capacity of colleges to engage in organizational learning.

Performance Funding for Higher Education

Jones, Sosanya

Lahr, Hana

Pheatt, Lara

Reddy, Vikash

An in-depth look at how federal regulatory policy for higher education is drafted, influenced, and enacted.
Many higher education academics and administrators have only vague notions about how the federal government makes regulations governing colleges and universities in the United States, and yet these regulations control many important aspects of the operation of these institutions. What happens after legislation affecting higher education is signed into law? How are specific provisions implemented―especially when the statute’s details are unclear? And who determines the details of the programs that a particular law has authorized? 
In this concise and informative book, higher education policy expert Rebecca S. Natow explores the how and why of the federal regulatory policymaking process as it pertains to higher education, financial aid, and student loan debt. Drawing on in-depth interviews with policy and higher education actors, as well as an extensive review of specific regulations and documents, Natow explains who influences higher education rulemaking and how their beliefs and surrounding contexts guide the policies they enact. She also examines the strategies and powers employed during the process, reveals how technology affects the creation of higher education rules, delves into the multifaceted implications of regulation for students and institutions, and discusses future prospects for higher education rulemaking.
The first comprehensive, research-based account of this important policymaking process, Higher Education Rulemaking will serve as a valuable resource for scholars, researchers, policymakers, and higher education professionals.

Higher Education Rulemaking: The Politics of Creating Regulatory Policy

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Books by Natow, Rebecca S.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Natow, Rebecca S.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Reexamining the Federal Role in Higher Education: Politics and Policymaking in the Postsecondary Sector

Reexamining the Federal Role in Higher Education: Politics and Policymaking in the Postsecondary Sector

The Politics of Performance Funding for Higher Education: Origins, Discontinuations, and Transformations

Performance Funding for Higher Education

Higher Education Rulemaking: The Politics of Creating Regulatory Policy