The Dissemination of Performance Funding for Higher Education

• In Event: Roundtable Session 124
  In Roundtable Session: Political Issues in Higher Education

Abstract

The sudden spread of performance funding for higher education in the 1990s raises the question of what role interstate policy diffusion played. To answer this, we analyzed the contents of publications by eight national policy and professional organizations in the years 1980-2000 and the political origins of performance funding in five states: Florida, Illinois, Missouri, South Carolina, and Washington. We find that, while exemplary states play an important role in encouraging other states to act, they often are not neighboring states but rather more distant ones that are touted by national organizations. Secondly, national policy organizations and external consultants have emerged as key policy disseminators, often touting particular states as examples and carrying their experiences to other states.

Authors

• Kevin J. Dougherty, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Elizabeth Puleio, Teachers College, Columbia University