After ranking as Florida's second-highest performing public university last year, the University of West Florida plummeted to second-to-last place this year.
The university earned 94 points on a 100-point scale last year and 82 this year. The drop-off would seem to imply the university saw a steep decline in performance. Quite the opposite, UWF earned a perfect score in five of 10 state metrics, improved in four others and showed only minimal loss in the remaining category.
So why such a steep drop in overall score?
University officials said after improving by leaps and bounds in previous years, more modest gains this year and a shift in how they are scored both contributed to the lower score.
The state's performance-based funding model grades universities on a 10-point scale in 10 different categories such as student retention, graduation rate, degree production, post-education employment and affordability. Schools earn points for either "excellence" or "improvement" in each category, whichever is greater, and receive funding correlated to meeting state-mandated scoring benchmarks.
UWF Provost and Senior Vice President George Ellenberg said based on recent successes, this year, the university had largely transitioned from being graded on improvement to being judged on excellence.
Based on the change, the state projected UWF to earn just 77 points this year, so the university actually outperformed expectations.
"We are improving in the metrics, and (the decrease in performance score) is just that difference between excellence and improvement that works itself out over the long haul," Ellenberg said.
UWF was the only institution to score a 10 in excellence points on both Metric 1 and Metric 2, which respectively measure how many graduates are employed within one year and what their median wages are. UWF was first in Metric 1, with 73.2% of graduates finding work right out of college. Metric 2 showed UWF grads earn a median annual wage of $40,900 during their first year in the workforce, second only to the University of Florida.
"We did extremely well there and are very pleased that our students are getting jobs and are getting high paying jobs, which is what parents want, what students want and what we want," Ellenberg said.
The average cost to earn a bachelor's degree is down to $7,980, almost half of what it was five years ago. The graduation rate has climbed to 34.8%, up from 31.3% last year and 21.5% five years ago. Academic progress and degrees in STEM fields are up, and the number of students taking excess course hours are down.
The only place UWF lost ground was access, with the number of undergrads receiving Pell Grants falling one percentage point from 39.6% to 38.6%.
Speaking to the overall metrics, Ellenberg said, "I like to focus on what this means for students, and what it means for students is that we are improving in so many different areas and have had great success this year."
The latest on UWF
More: Innovative thinking positions UWF for success during pandemic | Martha Saunders
More: 'It has forced us to get creative': UWF, PSC find opportunities in pandemic
More: UWF offers virtual editions of popular summer camps
In recent years, UWF has built out programs to help ensure students get consistent counseling and advisement on their academic track, that at-risk student get students support and tutoring, and that career resources are available to help students get their degree and go right to work.
Ellenberg said the university is committed to excellence and student success, and that this year, the institution received its full funding allocation of more than $21 million.
UWF's ranking does mean it lands on a State University System "watchlist." Universities that fail to meet strategic goals set by the state could lose portions of their state funding. Institutions whose performance scores stay static or move backward in two consecutive years are required to develop a student success plan detailing how they will improve.
"We are intent upon not being in that situation, so we are working hard to make sure that we improve in every area and have a higher score next year," Ellenberg said.
Kevin Robinson can be reached at krobinson4@pnj.com or 850-435-8527.
"score" - Google News
June 05, 2020 at 06:07PM
https://ift.tt/3cG3q49
UWF tumbles in state performance rankings, despite improving in most metrics - Pensacola News Journal
"score" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2OdbIHo
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "UWF tumbles in state performance rankings, despite improving in most metrics - Pensacola News Journal"
Post a Comment