Policy Environments and System Design: Understanding State Governance Structures

Abstract

This article is based on a national comparative study of state higher education governance structures. The study sought to improve understanding of how differences in the state governance structures affect system performance. This article develops a new f ramework for examining such structures and its implications for state policy. The study suggests that statewide governance is best understood as the result of the interaction between the framework's two dimensions: policy environment and system design.

State political culture and the affordability of higher education : a multivariate analysis of the impact of state higher education systems on the cost of attending college.

“…Three important stakeholders-the state, the market, and individual institutions of higher educationcontinuously discuss among themselves the idea of quality higher education and the understanding of how to meet new expectations (Berdahl, Altbach, & Gumport, 1999; Richardson, Bracco, Callan, & Finney, 1999). Tension continues to mount among higher education stakeholders as each tries to determine its legitimate role in defining American higher education priorities and in evaluating appropriate policies to reflect quality, affordability and access.…”

“…The primary vehicle of states in coordinating state systems is policy that creates incentives and disincentives for institutions to address state priorities (Richardson, 1999). Besides socioeconomic factors, as studied by Martinez (2002), political scientists study political factors to help understand the differences among state policies (Gray, 1999).…”

“…Besides socioeconomic factors, as studied by Martinez (2002), political scientists study political factors to help understand the differences among state policies (Gray, 1999). Higher education analysts cited the impact of the state political culture on higher education policy (Newman, 1987;Richardson, 1999). McGuinness (1999) explained that higher education policy has subtle, yet unique differences among states due in part to political culture and locus of political power.…”

State political culture and the affordability of higher education : a multivariate analysis of the impact of state higher education boards on the cost of attending college.

“…Martinez (1999) analyzed the higher education governance system from the state perspective through a survey commissioned by the Association of Governing Boards. Bracco, Richardson, and Callan (1999) sought to understand how differences in the design of state governance structures affected higher education performance and how structure affected leadership strategies that policy makers used to encourage institutions to respond to new state priorities.…”

“…Research question one was based on the conceptual framework that included the findings of the Bracco, Richardson, and Callan (1999) Table 7). In the second step, when state higher education governance board structure was added to the model, the R Professionalism of the state legislature had a t-value of 3.285 and was statistically significant at (p < .05).…”