Joshua Testa

Primary Area of Concentration:

• American Politics and Public Policy

Secondary Area of Concentration:

• Policy Analysis and Administration

Research Interests:

• Public Policy
• Public Management
• Higher Education Policy
• State Politics and the Bureaucracy
• Quantitative Methodology

Dissertation Title/Topic: Political Controls, Administrative Responsiveness, and Policy Effectiveness: Performance Funding Reforms for Public Higher Education

Political Controls, Administrative Responsiveness, and Policy Effectiveness: Performance Funding Reforms for Public Higher Education, examines how managers and administrators respond to the use of regulatory policy tools and whether the policies influence organizational performance.  The dissertation does so by examining the use of performance funding reforms adopted by state legislatures that attempt to hold public colleges and universities accountable for results.  The theoretical argument suggests that college and university administration are influenced by a combination of rewards and punishments implemented by state legislatures that emphasize certain institutional outcomes over others.  My dissertation examines how these sets of incentives and budgetary constraints influence administrative behavior relative to the outcomes emphasized in the state's performance funding formula, and ultimately how this affects institutional performance and student success.  I rely heavily on panel data and quantitative research methodologies to examine the effects of the reforms on institutional outcomes as well as political controls on administrative behavior.