Summary of Report 01-007

November 2000

Report Number 01-007

Sixty-five percent of the 105 performance measures reviewed during this performance measures audit are reliable. The remaining 35 percent could be improved if management placed greater emphasis on review procedures and on applying measure definitions as intended.

Ten of thirteen universities reported inaccurate data for the State Pass Rate of the Education ExCET exam performance measure. Due to the complexity of the ExCET measure and the various calculations needed to achieve the correct result, most of the universities over-reported their results by more than 5 percent for fiscal year 1999. The methodology developed by the Legislative Budget Board and State Auditor's Office, which is described in this report, should help universities calculate the measure correctly.

• Sixty-five percent of 105 measures reviewed were reliable. This is a 20-percent increase in reliability over the May 2000 performance measures audit. Thirty percent of the audited measures were inaccurate, and factors prevented certification of the remaining five percent.
  
  
• Ten of the thirteen universities audited for the performance measure State Pass Rate of the Education ExCET Exam reported inaccurate data. The three universities that reported results within plus or minus 5 percent of the result recreated by the State Auditor's Office did not use the appropriate methodology to achieve them. The methodology described in this report should help universities calculate the measure correctly.
  
  
• Inadequate source documentation, failure to follow measure definitions, calculation errors, inadequate policies and procedures, and insufficient supervisory reviews were the primary causes of unreliable measures.
  
  
• The following seven entities' audited measures achieved 100 percent reliability:
  • Texas Agricultural Extension Service
  • Texas State Technical College - Waco
  • Texas State Technical College - Sweetwater
  • Texas State Technical College - Harlingen
  • Stephen F. Austin State University
  • University of Houston - Victoria
  • Lamar State College - Port Arthur

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