(1) The *board shall establish an accountability monitoring and reporting system as part of a continuing effort to make meaningful and substantial progress towards the achievement of long-term performance goals in higher education.

     (2) To provide consistent, easily understood data among the public four-year institutions of higher education within Washington and in other states, the following data must be reported annually by December 1st, and at a minimum include data recommended by a national organization representing state chief executives. The *board may change the data requirements to be consistent with best practices across the country. This data must, to the maximum extent possible, be disaggregated by race and ethnicity, gender, state and county of origin, age, and socioeconomic status, and include the following for the four-year institutions of higher education:

     (a) Bachelor's degrees awarded;

     (b) Graduate and professional degrees awarded;

     (c) Graduation rates: The number and percentage of students who graduate within four years for bachelor's degrees and within the extended time, which is six years for bachelor's degrees;

     (d) Transfer rates: The annual number and percentage of students who transfer from a two-year to a four-year institution of higher education;

     (e) Time and credits to degree: The average length of time in years and average number of credits that graduating students took to earn a bachelor's degree;

     (f) Enrollment in remedial education: The number and percentage of entering first-time undergraduate students who place into and enroll in remedial mathematics, English, or both;

     (g) Success beyond remedial education: The number and percentage of entering first-time undergraduate students who complete entry college-level math and English courses within the first two consecutive academic years;

     (h) Credit accumulation: The number and percentage of first-time undergraduate students completing two quarters or one semester worth of credit during their first academic year;

     (i) Retention rates: The number and percentage of entering undergraduate students who enroll consecutively from fall-to-spring and fall-to-fall at an institution of higher education;

     (j) Course completion: The percentage of credit hours completed out of those attempted during an academic year;

     (k) Program participation and degree completion rates in bachelor and advanced degree programs in the sciences, which includes agriculture and natural resources, biology and biomedical sciences, computer and information sciences, engineering and engineering technologies, health professions and clinical sciences, mathematics and statistics, and physical sciences and science technologies, including participation and degree completion rates for students from traditionally underrepresented populations;

     (l) Annual enrollment: Annual unduplicated number of students enrolled over a twelve-month period at institutions of higher education including by student level;

     (m) Annual first-time enrollment: Total first-time students enrolled in a four-year institution of higher education;

     (n) Completion ratio: Annual ratio of undergraduate and graduate degrees and certificates, of at least one year in expected length, awarded per one hundred full-time equivalent undergraduate students at the state level;

     (o) Market penetration: Annual ratio of undergraduate and graduate degrees and certificates, of at least one year in program length, awarded relative to the state's population age eighteen to twenty-four years old with a high school diploma;

     (p) Student debt load: Median three-year distribution of debt load, excluding private loans or debts incurred before coming to the institution;

     (q) Data related to enrollment, completion rates, participation rates, and debt load shall be disaggregated for students in the following income brackets to the maximum extent possible:

     (i) Up to seventy percent of the median family income;

     (ii) Between seventy-one percent and one hundred twenty-five percent of the median family income; and

     (iii) Above one hundred twenty-five percent of the median family income; and

     (r) Yearly percentage increases in the average cost of undergraduate instruction.

     (3) Four-year institutions of higher education must count all students when collecting data, not only first-time, full-time freshmen.

     (4) Based on guidelines prepared by the *board, each four-year institution and the state board for community and technical colleges shall submit a biennial plan to achieve measurable and specific improvements each academic year on statewide and institution-specific performance measures. Plans shall be submitted to the *board along with the biennial budget requests from the institutions and the state board for community and technical colleges. Performance measures established for the community and technical colleges shall reflect the role and mission of the colleges.

     (5) The *board shall approve biennial performance targets for each four-year institution and for the community and technical college system and shall review actual achievements annually. The state board for community and technical colleges shall set biennial performance targets for each college or district, where appropriate.

     (6) The *board shall submit a report on progress towards the statewide goals, with recommendations for the ensuing biennium, to the fiscal and higher education committees of the legislature along with the *board's biennial budget recommendations.

     (7) The *board, in collaboration with the four-year institutions and the state board for community and technical colleges, shall periodically review and update the accountability monitoring and reporting system.

     (8) The *board shall develop measurable indicators and benchmarks for its own performance regarding cost, quantity, quality, and timeliness and including the performance of committees and advisory groups convened under this chapter to accomplish such tasks as improving transfer and articulation, improving articulation with the K-12 education system, measuring educational costs, or developing data protocols. The *board shall submit its accountability plan to the legislature concurrently with the biennial report on institution progress.

     (9) In conjunction with the office of financial management, all four-year institutions of higher education must display the data described in subsection (2) of this section in a uniform dashboard format on the office of financial management's web site no later than December 1, 2011, and updated thereafter annually by December 1st. To the maximum extent possible, the information must be viewable by race and ethnicity, gender, state and county of origin, age, and socioeconomic status. The information may be tailored to meet the needs of various target audiences such as students, researchers, and the general public.

[2011 1st sp.s. c 10 § 8; 2004 c 275 § 11.]

NOTES:

     *Reviser's note: The higher education coordinating board was abolished by 2011 1st sp.s. c 11 § 301, effective July 1, 2012.

     Findings -- Intent -- Short title -- 2011 1st sp.s. c 10: See notes following RCW 28B.15.031.

     Part headings not law -- 2004 c 275: See note following RCW 28B.76.090.