Abstract
Public higher education systems in the United States are confronted with the need to change. Today’s global economy increasingly requires an educated workforce, meaning that there is a growing need for universities to not just enroll students, but to ensure they complete their studies and enter the workforce with a degree. Recognizing this, policymakers, university leaders, and higher education advocates have explored various ways to bolster student completion. While recognizing the need to improve student outcomes, these efforts are not without challenges. Public universities can vary greatly in their student demographics, institutional resources, governance structures, and institutional leadership, among other factors. Crafting and implementing state level policy reforms that boost student completion requires strong policy leadership. This thesis examines policy leadership within three states: Indiana, Oregon, and Tennessee. I attempt to discern the key features of leadership in policy development that impact successful implementation of higher education reforms and analyzes the relevancy of other states’ reforms for California. I collected qualitative data via interviews with individuals familiar with the specific state reform efforts. Interview participants were asked a series of standardized, open-ended interview questions informed by a review of existing literature regarding higher education, and their responses were analyzed to identify commonalities, both within states and among the policy leadership efforts across all three states. In my research, I identified and discussed five reoccurring themes in the policy leadership efforts in all three states: 1. A belief in the need for better outcomes; 2. Framing improved outcomes as a driver of state-level economic development 3. Strong policy leadership guides the policy development and implementation; 4. The utilization of stakeholder engagement; and 5. The involvement of outside organizations in state-level efforts. After discussing these five commonalities, this thesis concludes by assessing the implications of these findings for future policy leadership efforts in California.