Performance Metrics as Formal Structures and through the Lens of Social Mechanisms
When Do They Work and How Do They Influence
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11367142 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jeannette A Colyvas (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2012 |
| Volume | 118 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 167-197 |
| Publication date | 2012-02-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Journal of Education (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0195-6744 • E-ISSN: 1549-6511 |
| Publisher | University of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1086/663270 |
| OpenAlex | W2105144409 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 21 |
| References cited | 53 |
Our current educational environment is subject to persistent calls for accountability, evidence-based practice, and data use for improvement, which largely take the form of performance metrics (PMs). This rapid proliferation of PMs has profoundly influenced the ways in which scholars and practitioners think about their own practices and the larger missions in which they are embedded. This article draws on research in organizational sociology and higher education to propose a framework and research agenda for analyzing the relationship between PMs and practice. I argue that PMs need to be understood as a distinctive form of data whose consequences in use relate to their role as formalized systems of abstractions and the social mechanisms through which they exert change in practice
Accountability · Engineering ethics · Epistemology · Lens (geology · Mechanism (biology · Political science · Public relations · Sociology · Subject (documents · Through-the-lens metering · Work (physics · Computer Science · Engineering · Higher Education Governance and Development · Law · Management and Organizational Studies · Public Policy and Administration Research
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| Unique citing works | 21 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,62 |
| Citation span | 2013 - 2025 (13) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 20 |