Public Scorecard monitors Missouri State's progress on goals

October marks the time of year when Missouri State University updates its Public Scorecard, the collection of 25 quantitative, institutional measures that allow the University to compare itself to other institutions and that permit it to gauge its progress over time with respect to achieving the five goals of the long-range plan. The Public Scorecard is one of our University's main methods of accountability; it also provides a guide for long-term planning, priority setting, and budgeting.

At the October 10, 2008, Board of Governors meeting, I presented the most recent update of the Public Scorecard. I invite and urge you to go to the web site and examine the Scorecard. Most of the measures we have been collecting have now been updated for this year; there are still eight measures that are awaiting initial collection, which should be accomplished this year with the assistance of some new productivity assessment software that has been purchased.

This year's results

The most recent Scorecard gives us reason for much celebration and gratification. On many measures, we set all-time or recent-year records. Among those records, the following are especially good news:

• The outstanding academic credentials of our entering first-time freshmen, as measured by average ACT score and class rank
• The number and percentage of our students involved in community service
• The number of degrees awarded by the University
• The total extramural awards for research, education, and service
• Graduate, minority, extended-campus, and international student enrollments
• Annual private giving
• The number of endowed faculty positions
• Progress on average faculty salaries

These outcomes do suggest we are on the right track in many areas and that Missouri State University is not just meeting, but exceeding, the expectations established in the long-range plan.

Another value of the Scorecard is that it helps diagnose areas where we need to improve. As you examine this year's Scorecard, the one area that continues to be of concern is the category of student success and associated measures of student learning and satisfaction.

Two of our measures are relevant here.

Looking first at student persistence, first to second year retention has not improved in five years, despite the fact that there has been an increase during that period in entering students' credentials, a factor that in almost all national studies has been correlated with improved retention.

Student success

Second, on the NSSE, the best-known and most widely used nationally normed measure of student engagement, Missouri State students continue to lag (albeit by small margins) students at comparable institutions in terms of their reports of academic challenge, extent of active and collaborative learning, participation in enriching educational experiences, and perceptions of a supportive campus environment.

One year ago in the October 2007 issue of Friday Focus, I raised the issue that Missouri State needed a serious campus-wide conversation about how we could improve our record of student success; I believe we need to set and achieve the goal of moving our record from “adequate” to “exceptional.” To do so, we need to join universities across the country that are addressing this topic in a number of creative and exciting ways.

Whether it involves innovations in pedagogy (particularly in math and science), first-year curricular reforms, the introduction of active-learning experiences, and/or expansion of undergraduate research opportunities, universities of all sorts across the nation are developing and practicing new teaching and learning methods all designed to engage students more fully and promote their academic and life-skill successes.

One can find examples of these programs at most major universities and at smaller institutions as well. At elite institutions like Duke, at private universities in our own state like St. Louis University, at comprehensive public universities much like ourselves (e.g., Ball State University, James Madison University), and at the nation's leading research universities (e.g., University of Texas, University of Illinois), initiatives devoted to undergraduate success and first-year enrichment are flourishing. Indeed, national organizations such as the Association of American Colleges and Universities, through publications such as Give Students a Compass, are advocating high-impact educational experiences focused on first-year engagement as a key to successful general education and student learning.

I am pleased that Missouri State is taking steps in new directions to promote higher levels of engagement and student success. Renewed attention to IDS 110, the eventual replacement of our capstone course, the report from the Provost's Task Force on Student Success, and the appointment of Dr. Rachelle Darabi as associate provost for student development and public affairs, are all actions that should pay dividends for Missouri State University.

Town Hall Meeting November 21

In addition, in order to promote fuller discussion of these and related initiatives, as well as the fundamental need for them, the Provost will be holding a town meeting from 2-3 p.m. Friday, November 21, in the Meyer Library Auditorium (Room 101) devoted to the topic “Student Success.” I urge you to participate in that meeting and other activities by which we can be sure that Missouri State is doing all that it can to promote the most important element of our mission – the high quality education of our students.