Peer analysis is a valuable tool for self-evaluation, comparison evaluation and creating standard benchmarks. So what is it? Why should I care?
Peer analysis is a process of comparing one thing to a similar thing. Most industries can, and do, use some form of peer analysis. To be useful, the information utilized in peer analysis must be accurate and authentic. Community colleges can calculate statistics in thousands of different ways. However, to be useful in peer analysis, there must be a standard for all community colleges to calculate those statistics.
But let us back up for a minute, what is a peer? I am going to compare one dog to another. I have dog A, Brutus a top winning Bullmastiff, and dog B, Diamond a top winning Toy Poodle. If we are looking at whether both are dogs, then they are peers. If the evaluation is who conforms to the breed standard, then they are being measured against their peers also, other Toy Poodles and Bullmastiffs. If we want to know who is the best pet then we have a problem. Why? We have no accurate and authentic evaluation for “best pet.” What gives us the best standard for evaluation? The breed standard is best. The standard tells us how Brutus and Diamond compare to their peers but within the subset of dogs. The standard is developed by those intimately involved and most knowledgeable about a breed.
Peer analysis in education is similar. It is appropriate to measure community colleges against one another to “set goals and monitor performance” (L’Orange, 2008, June) but only once we are able put the community colleges in a category by themselves. Then, standardized measures are applied to manipulate the group. These measures can be simple or complex. Determining geography is straightforward and standardized. Standardizing graduation rate is more complicated. For proper analysis, multiple measures are utilized when comparing graduation rates.
There are no “magic” statistics when performing peer analysis. The magic lies in creating a multi-dimensional picture, through a particular lens of analysis, of the institutions by factoring in numerous variables. What does that picture look like compared to the peers’ picture? Think of Brutus and Diamond for a moment; when they are at a dog show, each judge has put on a lens. What trait does that judge give more weight to? Head structure? Movement? The pitfall is looking through one lens while ignoring the rest of the picture or never looking through different lenses.
Community colleges can compare themselves to one another to track progress and determine areas for improvement by using peer analysis. Peer analysis cannot provide a complete picture of a college, however; comparing inputs and outputs shows uniqueness, similarity, along with areas for improvement and achievement.
References
L’Orange, H. (2008, June). Unit Record Data Systems: A State Perspective. State Higher Education Executive Officers. Retrieved from http://www.sheeo.org/resources/publications/unit-record-data-systems-state-perspective