Source: Chronicle of Higher Ed, 09/13/11
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By Audrey Williams June
In Florida, college professors, presidents and
lawmakers are preparing for a vigorous debate about faculty performance, pay,
and productivity.
That's because Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, has made it clear that he's
looking toward Texas for ideas on how to revamp higher education in his state.
In Texas, a controversial plan—backed by Gov. Rick Perry, another Republican,
and his allies—proposes to do more to measure faculty productivity, emphasizes
teaching over research, and advocates paying faculty members based on their
effectiveness.
Governor Scott, who has spoken publicly in recent weeks about his interest in
the Texas proposal, hasn't yet talked specifics about which pieces of that plan
he would push lawmakers to adopt. But he's actively soliciting feedback on
Texas's "Seven Breakthrough Solutions," which was written by the
Austin-based Texas Public Policy Foundation, a research institute. Just a few
of the solutions have been adopted, most of them at Texas A&M University.
Governor Scott has shared the plan with enough people, including the chancellor
of the state university system, the appointees he has made to college governing
boards, and the presidents of Florida's 11 public colleges, to jump-start what
is sure to be a lengthy conversation about what kinds of changes should be
made.
The governor's spokesman, Lane Wright, said that there is no plan in place to
make changes in higher education in Florida and that Governor Scott has simply
been "talking about his ideas" as a way to generate discussion on the
matter. The governor has had no formal talks at this point with legislators
about ways to overhaul the system, Mr. Wright said.
It isn't yet clear how much traction the governor's higher-education ideas will
get in Florida, but people are taking the push to revamp higher education in
the state seriously. The union that represents about 20,000 public university
professors and professionals in Florida is gearing up to fight the changes in
how they're expected to do their jobs, which, they say, would ultimately drive
talented faculty away from Florida colleges. The Texas-style higher-education
proposals are also expected to be discussed during the next legislative
session, which begins in January.
A Counterproposal
In a move to counter what he saw as major shortcomings of the Texas solutions,
a Florida university president has created a detailed alternative, which he
calls "Florida Can Do Better Than Texas."
Eric J. Barron, president of Florida State University, said he came up with the
alternative plan after reading a copy of the Texas plan sent to him by Governor
Scott. "My immediate thought was that we can do better," Mr. Barron
said. "I took each of the proposed Texas solutions and did an analysis and
then I thought about how they could be stronger."
The governor has asked for a copy of the plan, said Mr. Barron, who shared his
ideas with his trustees last week.
Mr. Barron said his plan (which offers eight solutions, instead of seven)
ensures that colleges are held responsible for their students' success, while
allowing colleges in the state to "still be on the cutting edge."
For instance, the Texas solutions focus on measuring the productivity and
effectiveness of faculty by how many students they teach, how highly they are
rated on student evaluations, and how many A's and B's they award to students.
Critics say the Texas model wants colleges to operate like businesses that
offer degrees as their main product. But such metrics, Mr. Barron said, could
have unintended consequences, among them larger classes that could limit
learning and faculty's pandering to students to positively influence student
evaluations.
A better way to measure efficiency, according to Mr. Barron's plan, is to look
at freshman retention and graduation rates, survey students about their
university experience after graduation, test them for how much they know about
a subject before and after a course, and calculate cost per student per credit
hour. Among other elements of Mr. Barron's plan are an emphasis on
performance-based pay and less weight on student evaluations as a litmus test
for awarding tenure.
Mr. Barron, who is scheduled to discuss his plan at the Faculty Senate meeting
this month at Florida State, said he hopes his ideas "start
a discussion about what we could do differently in Florida."
"My belief is that this plan will get improved as it goes along," he
said, "and hopefully what will emerge is an even stronger document that we
can talk about."
No Room for Debate?
But some professors are concerned that the window to discuss the pros and cons
of the Texas plan is a narrow one, if it exists at all. The governor's
consistent promotion of the Texas ideas as a possible template doesn't bode
well, they said.
"He's already finished the conversation all by himself," said Tom
Auxter, president of the United Faculty of Florida and a professor of
philosophy at the University of Florida. Mr. Auxter wrote a letter to union
members last week that outlined several challenges the union expects to face
when the legislative session begins anew, including the likely reintroduction
of bills that would make it harder for public employees to keep their union
going. Yet, Mr. Auxter wrote: "The most ominous threat to higher education
comes from the governor."
"Faculty are talking about this across the
state," Mr. Auxter said in an interview of the governor's push to consider
the Texas ideas in Florida. They're not against a plan that tries to increase
efficiency since it's clear that "we don't have enough money to go around,"
he said. But at the root of critics' worry, just as in Texas, is how that
efficiency will be achieved.
"The ideas are often general ideas that people may or may not agree
with," Mr. Auxter said of the Texas plan. "But when you look at the
implementation, all the duplicity is in the details."
Mr. Auxter and others say that a key component of the Texas solution, its
merit-pay plan, would push professors away from Florida colleges. Under the
Texas plan, faculty who are top-notch teachers would be given a bonus, but that
amount, Mr. Auxter says, would not be added to the base pay that professors
get. So the salaries of high-performing faculty wouldn't increase over the long
run.
Faculty will say, "'I'm going to have this salary for the rest of my
life,'" Mr. Auxter said. "You need people who are on the cutting edge
in their research and can teach well. They're saying you don't have to invest
in talent."
Mr. Auxter added that "I think we're going to have to fight this all year
long."
Frank T. Brogan, chancellor of the State University System of Florida, has met
with Governor Scott to discuss the changes the governor has in mind for higher
education. Mr. Brogan was not available for comment, according to his
spokeswoman. However, he told the News Service of Florida last month that he
supports "accountability-based funding," and
thinks that scrutinizing the quality of programs is key. He also acknowledged
how fast-moving—and divisive—discussions about overhauling higher education
were in Texas and he hopes talks about the issue will take a different tone in
Florida, the news service reported.
The Board of Governors, which oversees public colleges in the state, meets
Thursday, and Mr. Brogan is on the agenda. Kelly Layman, a spokeswoman, said
Mr. Brogan will give a report, during which he will weigh in on the talk
surrounding potential changes in Florida's higher education system, and will
also lead a discussion on national trends in higher education.
"The Florida Board of Governors is excited that this dialogue is occurring
in the context of work it has dedicated itself to the past 18 months on
updating our strategic plan through 2025," Ms. Layman said in an e-mail.
"We will build whatever additional performance metrics to our existing
annual report the board feels are necessary."
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