process for gauging success. Higher education is multifaceted in design and mission—there are many different kinds of institutions serving diverse student groups while working to accomplish a large variety of goals. Accountability systems that don’t examine all facets of an institution risk presenting a narrow, distorted view of success and creating unbalanced or even perverse incentives that are misaligned with institutional missions and larger policy goals.

Student OutcomesLearning: Louisiana does not publicly or systematically release accountability information on

this measure.

LOUISIANA

Background/HistoryLouisiana, the 25th most populous state, has low educational attainment. It is second worst, fifth worst, and seventh worst in percentage of adults with, respectively, an associate degree, bachelor’s degree, and graduate degree. It has a low per capita income and the third highest poverty rate in the country. Louisiana is expected to have a 1 percent decrease in high school graduates from 2007–08 to 2017–18. Only 40.7 percent of Louisiana’s freshmen enrolling at four-year institutions graduate in six years or less, compared to the national mark of 55.9 percent.1 Louisiana is the only state in the union that must have two-thirds approval from the state Legislature in order to raise tuition.

The Louisiana Board of Regents was created in the 1974 Louisiana Constitution. The board is responsible for coordinating all public higher education in the state and is tasked with approving and reviewing academic programs, drafting a master plan, and reviewing and compiling the budget requests of the state’s public postsecondary institutions. Those include the Louisiana Community and Technical College System, Louisiana State University System (which includes the state’s flagship institution), the University of Louisiana, the Southern University System (the only historically black university system). Each of the four systems has a board responsible for activities such as making executive personnel decisions, setting student fee rates, and managing capital projects.

The aftermath of Hurricanes Rita and Katrina continues to affect state functions in Louisiana. Largely due to windfall revenues from the oil and gas industries and sales tax revenue from materials used to rebuild businesses and homes, the state’s coffers swelled in 2006–07. Much of this money went to helping the state’s colleges, as the public institutions received an 18.6 percent bump in support (after the 14.3 percent rise the year before). The pot included money to establish the state’s first need-based student aid program and finance research projects, capital spending, and additional aid for campuses still recovering from hurricane damage.

gatHering informationMeasurement isn’t sufficient for accountability, but it is necessary. Any legitimate effort to hold institutions

accountable for success must begin with a fair, accurate

LOUISIANA SCORE CARD

= Needs Improvement = In Progress = Best Practice

gatHering information

student outcomes

Learning

Progression and Attainment

Further Employment, Education, and Life

institutional Practices

Teaching and Engagement

Efficiency and Financial Stewardship

Equity, Access, and Affordability

Alignment With Pre K–12 Education

Scholarship and Research

economic and community development

Degree Production and Economic Impact

Arts, Culture, and Service

Adult Education and Extension Services

overall Quality of information

state- and systemwide information

using information

governance and strategic Planning

funding

transparency and markets

76 HIGHER ED ACCOUNTABILITY REPORT: Louisiana www.educationsector.org

Louisiana

Progression and Attainment: The Louisiana Board of Regents reports retention and graduation rates by

institution. Both factor whether students have transferred to another Louisiana public institution. Graduation rates are further disaggregated by full- or part-time student status.

Further Employment, Education, and Life: Louisiana does not publicly or systematically release

accountability information on this measure.

Institutional PracticesTeaching and Engagement: Louisiana State University reports faculty diversity by race/ethnicity and gender;

the student/faculty ratio; and class sections with two–nine, 10–19, 20–29, 30–39, 40–49, 50–99, and 100+ students.

The Louisiana Board of Regents released separate two-year and four-year student surveys showing changes from 2000 to 2005. Questions focus on college services and environment, and they include ones asking for student perceptions on career planning services, the student health insurance program, residence halls, parking facilities, availability and attitude on instructors, course availability, classroom and lab facilities, etc. The scores are also compared to national averages.

Efficiency and Financial Stewardship: The Louisiana Board of Regents tracks the average calendar years

it takes graduates to earn their degrees, disaggregated for part- or full-time status and transfer students. It also tracks classroom utilization longitudinally (from 2003–07) broken down by academic department.

Louisiana State University tracks educational and general expenditures by function for instruction, research, public service, academic support, student services, institutional support, operations and maintenance, scholarships and fellowships, and transfers.

Equity, Access, and Affordability: The Louisiana Board of Regents tracks enrollment by race/ethnicity,

gender, parish, U.S. state, and foreign country.

The board tracks several measures of affordability as state totals, including enrollment by students of low income, the net cost to students by income quintile, the percentage of financial support spent on need-based aid, the percentage of students with debt, and the average graduate debt. Some, but not all, of these measures are tracked over time. Louisiana State University tracks the percentage of financial need met for those students

qualifying for need-based aid, the percentage of students who borrow, and the average amount borrowed.

Alignment With Pre K–12 Education: In 2000–03 the Louisiana Board of Regents required all universities

to redesign their teacher preparation programs to be aligned with Pre K–12 content standards and state teacher standards. After the restructuring, the board commissioned a study, the first of its kind, comparing teacher value-added data by preparation program. Last year, 2008, was the third year of analyzing the results, and varying levels of effectiveness were found across teacher preparation programs, from those that prepared new teachers to be as effective as more experienced teachers to programs that produced beginning teachers who lagged behind other first-year teacher peers. The results were further separated by academic discipline.

Louisiana also reports data by high school and parish from 1997 to 2007 on the number of high school graduates enrolling in a Louisiana postsecondary institution. Of those, it gives the percentage requiring remedial coursework, by subject, and the percentage in “good academic standing” (defined as all students not on probation) at the end of their first year.

Scholarship and Research: Louisiana does not publicly or systematically release accountability

information on this measure.

Economic and Community DevelopmentDegree Production and Economic Impact: The Louisiana Board of Regents tracks degree

production by student and degree type, disaggregated by race/ethnicity, gender, and department.

Arts, Culture, and Service: Louisiana does not publicly or systematically release accountability information

on this measure.

Adult Education and Extension Services: Louisiana does not publicly or systematically release

accountability information on this measure.

Overall Quality of InformationFor the most part, Louisiana’s higher education accountability data do not cover as many topics or

in as much detail as other states. Yet, they are focused primarily at the institution level, include info on community and technical colleges, and are frequently disaggregated by race/ethnicity and part- and full-time and transfer

77HIGHER ED ACCOUNTABILITY REPORT: Louisianawww.educationsector.org

Louisiana

status. Publicly available data from the Louisiana Board of Regents and Louisiana State University are current. None of the systems pair institutional performance with peer data or pre-determined goals.

State- and Systemwide InformationLouisiana reports data on higher education mostly at the institution level, although it does report

affordability information like enrollment by students of low income, the net cost to students by income quintile, the percentage of financial support spent on need-based aid, the percentage of students with debt, and the average graduate debt as state totals only.

using informationSimply making information available does not, in and of itself, constitute a well-functioning

accountability system. Measurement is only step one; step two is making the information that comes from measurement meaningful. There are different ways to do this, but they’re all variations on a theme: injecting information about quality into existing processes that college decision-makers care about. These processes can be grouped into three areas: governance and strategic planning, funding, and transparency and markets.

Governance and Strategic PlanningThe Louisiana Board of Regents has established numeric, statewide goals with a completion date

goal. They are linked to the state’s master plan, paired with strategies for success, and presented alongside output and outcome measures. For example, the state wants to “increase the percentage of first-time, full-time, degree-seeking freshmen retained to the second year in public postsecondary education by 5.1 percentage points from the fall, 2006 baseline level of 74.9 percent to 80.0 percent by fall, 2012,” with strategies like, “[assessing] admissions criteria at four-year institutions to promote better student-to-institution match,” and, “[continuing] periodic statewide assessment of student services utilizing student opinion survey.” It will measure progress with the number and percentage of students graduating within three to six years’ time.

FundingLouisiana does not appear to link institutional performance with state funding levels.

Transparency and MarketsThe Louisiana Board of Regents does not have a Web site for students. And the four system-office

Web pages do not target accountability information to prospective students.

accountaBiLity documents Louisiana Board of regents

strategic Plan (2008–13)http://www.regents.state.la.us/pdfs/Planning/Strategic%20Plan2008-2013%20-%20BOR%20-Final-.pdf

Value-added teacher Preparation Program assessment modelhttp://www.regents.state.la.us/Academic/TE/Value%20Added.htm

first-time college freshmen state reporthttp://www.doe.state.la.us/lde/uploads/12689.pdf

Bor 2000–05 two-year student opinion survey resultshttp://www.regents.state.la.us/pdfs/Planning/ACT%20Survey%20Results%20-%20SOS%202%20year%2000-2005%20(Final%20-%20All%20Sections).pdf

Bor 2000–05 four-year student opinion survey resultshttp://www.regents.state.la.us/pdfs/Planning/ACT%20Survey%20Results%20-%20SOS%204-year%2000-2005%20(Final%20-%20All%20Sections).pdf

master Plan for Public Postsecondary education: 2001http://www.regents.state.la.us/pdfs/Planning/masterplan2001.pdf

Louisiana state university

common data sethttp://www.bgtplan.lsu.edu/CDS/2007.htm

university of Louisiana

university of Louisiana system statisticshttp://www.ulsystem.net/index.cfm?md=pagebuilder&tmp=home&nid=50&pnid=19&pid=126&fmid=0&catid=0&elid=0

southern university system

system statisticshttp://www.sus.edu/VPASA/docs/statistics.pdf

Louisiana department of education

Louisiana first-time college freshmen state reportshttp://www.doe.state.la.us/lde/pair/1640.html

endnotes1 “Almanac Issue 2008–9.” The Chronicle of Higher Education,

Volume 55, Issue 1.2 George H. Noell, et. al. “Value Added Assessment of Teacher

Preparation in Louisiana: 2004–2005 to 2006–2007” (Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University, November 2008).