Measuring value added in higher education: Do any of the recent experiences in secondary education in the United Kingdom suggest a way forward?

Abstract

Purpose

The United Kingdom (UK) has recently published secondary education value added measures. This paper examines whether the approach used could also offer a possible method for measuring value added in higher education (HE).

Design/methodology/approach

Previous attempts to measure HE value added in the UK, such as comparative value added (CVA), met with criticism relating to their estimation of the “expected” degree class (DegCL). This paper examines whether the recent experiences in secondary education give any insights into solving this problem.

Findings

The paper identifies that the techniques applied in secondary education are remarkably similar to those used by CVA, and it argues that they appear to suffer from similar pitfalls. It is shown, through a statistical analysis, that in practice a whole range of factors have a significant influence on degree performance.

Research limitations/implications

The data set used in the statistical analysis of HE performance is relatively old. Future research could repeat this study with recent data.

Practical implications

The development of an accurate measure of value added in HE will need to apply measuring techniques that are significantly more sophisticated than those used for UK secondary education.

Originality/value

The value of this paper is that it identifies key issues that will need to be addressed before a credible measure of value added can be developed for HE.

Citation

Rodgers, T. (2005), "Measuring value added in higher education: Do any of the recent experiences in secondary education in the United Kingdom suggest a way forward?", Quality Assurance in Education, Vol. 13 No. 2, pp. 95-106. https://doi.org/10.1108/09684880510594355