In order for Missouri State University to become an outstanding university, it must focus on its core mission of educating persons while it achieves the five goals charted in the new long-range plan, Imagining and Making Missouri’s Future. The extent to which we achieve these goals should be measured by objective standards that allow the University to compare itself to other institutions and that permit it to gauge its progress over time. Although no single measure is sufficient to measure all aspects of the ambitions we have as an institution, the following indicators, taken collectively, will serve as quantitative measures by which we can track our achievements and assess our relative success in attaining the excellence by which Missouri State should be known.

The extensive use of specific annual performance measures, which has served the University well in the past, will continue in the form of the Public Scorecard. Missouri State University will focus on a set of 25 important institutional measures (including student outcomes) that will be presented in the Scorecard. During 2006-07, baseline data for each measure will be established, a process that will require time and discussion. Once the baseline data have been established, the University will seek to improve each year and report on the progress annually. The indicators in the Scorecard will serve as assessments of accountability that can be viewed and judged by all of the University’s constituents. The Scorecard will also provide a guide for longer-term planning, priority setting, and budgeting. The elements for that scorecard include:

1. Student Achievement
   1. Quality indicators of entering first-time freshmen (ACT, class rank, and/or grade point average)
   2. Retention rate of first-year and transfer students
   3. Six-year graduation rates
   4. Number and percentage of students involved in research projects and community service 
   5. Number and percentage of students winning state, national, and international awards
   6. Number and percentage of students authoring refereed publications and conference papers/presentations
   7. Pass rates on licensure exams
   8. Student learning measures appropriate with those suggested by the Higher Learning Commission and nationally-normed student satisfaction measures
2. Research and Creative Activity
   1. Total and federal grant and contract proposals, awards, and dollars
   2. Total books and refereed publications/scholarly products
   3. Total refereed national and international presentations and exhibits and articles in national/international newspapers and periodicals
   4. Number of faculty winning any of 15 categories of national awards (from the Lombardi report)
3. Access and Diversity
   1. Number and percentage of minority enrollment, and the number of percentage of minority faculty and staff
   2. Number and percentage of international student enrollment
   3. Graduate enrollment
   4. Extended campus enrollment
4. Community Impact
   1. Licenses, commercial start-ups, and patents
   2. Number of partnerships with educational institutions, governmental entities, community agencies, businesses and health care organizations
   3. Number of graduates meeting the workforce development and professional education needs of the community
   4. Number of cultural and public affairs events and conferences
5. Institutional Support
   1. Total endowment - 2008 update
   2. Annual giving
   3. Percentage of alumni giving
   4. Faculty salaries and staff salaries
   5. Number of endowed chairs and professorships