The experience of performance funding on higher education at the campus level in the past 20 years

Tennessee was the first state in the nation to adopt a performance funding policy which links a portion of state appropriations to colleges and universities to their performance on several educational performance indicators. The purpose of this study was to examine the experience of a single community college with the policy over the 20 year period since the policy was first implemented. A case study method was employed and involved extensive interviews with executive administrators, administrative faculty and faculty. The case study also made use of pertinent document analysis, and observations. Although few of the participants felt that the policy should be discontinued, several improvements were suggested, and a variety of themes emerged concerning the strengths and weaknesses of the policy.