In September 2007, the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) officially launched the Student Achievement Initiative, a system-wide policy to reward colleges for improvements in student achievement. Developed by a task force comprised of State Board members, college trustees, presidents, and faculty representatives, the policy emphasizes three overarching principles: 1) the initiative should lead to improved educational attainments for students and, in particular, should be aimed at boosting those educational attainments shown by research to be correlated with the earning of higher future wages by students; 2) the initiative should allow colleges sufficient flexibility to improve student achievement according to their local needs; 3) the initiative should result in the identification and implementation of successful practices to improve student achievement system-wide.

Researchers from the Community College Research Center (CCRC) at Teachers College, Columbia University, conducted an independent qualitative review of the Student Achievement Initiative during the 2007-08 learning year. The purpose of this formative evaluation was to assess the extent of awareness and understanding of the initiative among college personnel, examine the initial responses to it by the colleges, and identify opportunities for and potential barriers to the further development of the initiative.

The CCRC research team conducted extensive interviews with college personnel through site visits to eight colleges during spring 2008 and conducted phone interviews with college personnel at an additional nine colleges through September 2008. A second round of in-person and telephone interviews was conducted by CCRC in early fall 2008 with key internal and external stakeholders and with policymakers to better understand the policy context within which the Student Achievement Initiative was conceived and is now being implemented.

Key findings include:

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Colleges strongly supported the initiative’s goals and the principles of the achievement point framework

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Colleges grappled with their performance data throughout the learning year

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Several colleges were beginning to link the initiative to strategic planning and accreditation activities.

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Colleges were concerned that use of the achievement point framework and the incentive funding model may produce unintended effects and place some colleges at a disadvantage

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College presidents emphasized that, in order to be effective in improving college performance, the initiative must bring new funding to colleges, over and above base budget funding

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While state policymakers indicated strong support for the initiative’s model of performance accountability and improvement, there is limited awareness of the initiative and no strong champions for it among state legislators. The looming fiscal crisis further threatens the SBCTC’s legislative request for new funding to support the initiative.

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