An Accountability Tool for Student Success

The Working Poor Families Project this week released a report on performance funding at community colleges and its potential to drive better outcomes for student success this week. The key findings of the report recognize that the best accountability for student success requires the development of robust state data systems and outcome measurements and should strive to ensure performance funding complements adequate state investment in post-secondary education.

Performance funding the North Carolina Community College System is not new. In fact it dates back to the 1980s. And the Governor’s budget has even proposed a pot of funding for the university system that is linked to student progress and success.  The Community College System proposed a series of new performance measures on March 1st that largely reflect an orientation to the goals of student success.  One area which will be important to consider moving forward is the increasingly recognized importance of credentials in the career pathway for adult workers.  Recognition of this critical skills training should be part of the state’s enhancement of its accountability to students and ultimately the demands in the labor market.