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Improving the College Scorecard
by David C. Paris
Last month I commented on President Obama’s State of the Union Address and the draft College Scorecard published in its wake. The draft scorecard aims to provide easily understood data about cost, graduation rates, average loan debt, debt repayment rates, and future earnings potential. I noted that while much of this is valuable information for students and parents, it is not the only or most appropriate information for college choice decisions.
More important, I wrote, “this dollars and cents emphasis on economics that is more and more dominating the rhetoric and discussion about higher education does not consider the quality of education or even recognize that quality matters.” Too sharp a focus on cost and finance neglects the question of the value of education to the student and society. “If we imagine that we could simply snap our fingers, and the cost of college became more affordable, we would certainly relieve the financial burdens students and families face. But what benefit would our economy and our society reap from producing more, less costly degrees if those degrees aren’t preparing students to be productive workers and responsible citizens?”
The White House has invited comment and input on the scorecard through its website. The Alliance’s Associate Director Zaneeta Daver and I, along with Carol Geary Schneider, President of the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), were fortunate to meet with Zakiya Smith, senior advisor for education at the White House’s Domestic Policy Council, to discuss the scorecard and provide our feedback in person. I came away feeling positive because she seemed to be very receptive to the notion of including some reference to, or indicators of, quality and learning in the scorecard. We agreed to take a stab at what that might look like and send some suggestions to her.
What we came up with was adding two more categories, “What will I learn at UUS?” and “How does UUS ensure that I have earned a quality degree?” You can see how the scorecard is formatted here, and see our suggestions here. These two areas are not considered often enough, if at all, by students when deciding where to attend college. We wanted to say to students, “When deciding on which college to attend you need to know what your college expects you to be able to do, achieve, demonstrate, or know upon graduation – regardless of what major you select. You need to graduate prepared for not only employment, but for active citizenship.” We also wanted to say, “When deciding on which college to attend you need to know that your college degree reflects a high level of achievement . . . you need to be assured that you will learn something and meet the learning goals of UUS.”
This information is not currently collected by the Department of Education, so obtaining and sharing it will not be an easy task. We suggested that they create an editable scorecard, one that would allow institutions to add this information to their profile should they choose to do so. Another suggestion was to provide these categories and suggest to students where they could find this information on a college’s website. For example, “Look on USS’s website to see if they state what they expect for you to have learned by the time you graduate. If you can’t find that information, be sure to ask about it.” And, “USS should have a process in place that informs them whether their students are achieving their goals or not. Ask UUS how they know if their students are learning, and if they do, how well are those students learning?”
We have been told these suggestions will be shared with the group developing the scorecard in the coming weeks. It will be interesting to see how they will handle this issue and what they decide. One of the difficulties confronting this scorecard and similar efforts is that readily available and easily presented data may not be the most appropriate or relevant information about an institution (see U.S. News and World Report) while more significant and helpful information is difficult to collect or not yet available. Ideally, getting a broad range of information of various types would help students and parents make informed decisions.
Even though this is difficult, we firmly believe that at least some reference to quality (what and how much a student will learn at an institution) needs to be on the scorecard and included in all discussions that focus on college choice – access, cost, retention, and completion.
We would welcome any ideas you might have and encourage you to suggest to the White House that they should make sure that the quality of student learning is integral to any national discussion of higher education.
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PERSPECTIVES AND PRACTICE
Reflections on Issues, Efforts, and Experiences
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Committing to Quality Serves Howard University Assessors
by Michael B. Wallace
It is well documented that the zeitgeist in higher education related to the focus on student learning outcomes has in the professional field of assessment generated new, and in some cases, renewed respect for this essential activity. Colleges and universities across the nation are now even more intent upon documenting and assessing teaching and learning more effectively, not only for accountability, but most importantly for sustained program and institutional improvement on many levels.
The roles of all educational stakeholders in these processes are becoming more apparent to many on campuses nationwide, but there is still much work to be done in educating and sensitizing those stakeholders (i.e., administrators, faculty, staff, students, parents, and community supporters) on the nature, merits, requirements and potentials of solid assessment and evaluation systems. At many gatherings of higher education professionals, participants very often share the challenges involved in bringing all stakeholders on board the proverbial assessment train, so to speak . . . to have them truly understand the basics and “buy in” to the necessities and expectations related to the assessment enterprise. In other cases and in general, even with those who are somewhat on board, evidence of how assessment findings are actually used is lacking.
Howard University in Washington, DC is among the many institutions that face these types of challenges as it works at realizing the condition expressed in its mantra, “working together to cultivate a culture of evidence-based decision making” that was introduced to the campus by its Office of Institutional Assessment and Evaluation (OIAE). Howard University with the guidance and support of OIAE, approaches institutional assessment and evaluation from bottom-up and top-down, having established along with campus leaders assessment subcommittees in the areas of academics and student affairs. These bodies are charged to meet, plan, implement and monitor assessment and evaluation initiatives and activities university-wide. The subcommittees have a healthy respect for the fundamental importance of the faculty’s representation and inputs. Additionally, the Center for Excellence in Teaching, Learning and (classroom) Assessment (CETLA), that provides professional development and a broad range of resources to the faculty, works closely with the OIAE to promote and foster institutional assessment.
As part of its own professional development, staff from the OIAE attened the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). An OIAE administrator obtained a copy of Committing to Quality: Guidelines for Assessment and Accountability in Higher Education. This publication covers clearly and succinctly the type and amount of key information that Howard’s or any institution’s stakeholders need to have and internalize in order to build the assessment culture. It was decided that Howard should provide this publication to as many of its stakeholders as possible, as soon as possible. With the cooperation and generosity of the Alliance, we have begun to distribute to our stakeholders. The arrival of this material is particularly timely in that our institution is presently in the throes of a major academic initiative, the President’s Commission on Academic Renewal (PCAR), one that rightfully involves assessment at the planning table, at the ground floor.
Part of the PCAR involves considerable work on restructuring undergraduate studies and the general education program in particular. Members of the broad committee that is working through this process that involves members from each stakeholder group have been the first to receive Committing to Quality. Howard OIAE is systematically providing this publication to faculty members through their deans and departments. OIAE and CETLA will now be able to refer to this publication in presentations, workshops and individual assessment technical assistance sessions in the future. In that Howard University assesses its assessments, the OIAE looks forward to sharing feedback on the usefulness of this valuable resource in helping us to meet assessment challenges.
Michael B. Wallace, PhD, is the Assistant Director of the
Office of Institutional Assessment & Evaluation at Howard University.
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PRESIDENTS’ ALLIANCE SPOTLIGHT
Macalester College
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Macalester College in Saint Paul, MN is a top-ranked liberal arts college of 1,980 students with an intense focus on educating its students in an international tradition. Founded in 1874, the college has a long history of providing an education of uncompromising academic quality and preparing students for leadership. Macalester’s mission includes a commitment to “an educational program known for its high standards for scholarship.” To that end, its Assessment Office has strived to “develop and deploy an ongoing process for providing useful feedback for improving the effectiveness of a Macalester education.”
Through participation in the Presidents’ Alliance, Macalester asserts its commitment to sharing institutional student learning objectives. As Kendrick Brown, associate dean of the faculty and campus assessment coordinator shared, “Increasingly, the general public is asking about the value of education. You can respond to these questions by being clear about what you’re trying to achieve as an institution.” A distinguishing feature of Macalester’s assessment work is that it engages not only faculty, but also student affairs staff and alumni in the design, planning, and implementation of assessment.
Macalester is nearing the end of a two-year process of developing a Statement of Student Learning. A committee comprised of faculty, staff, student, and alumni representatives came together to engage in dialogues about their multiple understandings of student learning and identify preliminary college-wide student learning goals and outcomes. The committee sought input from the campus community on emerging ideas. Therefore, the resulting Statement of Student Learning reflects a consensus on what a Macalester education means. Currently, the Student Learning Committee is in the final stages of securing the endorsement of Macalester’s faculty and student affairs leadership team. Following endorsement, the college will evaluate its progress toward the goals and outcomes established in the Statement of Student Learning.
Brown reflected on some lessons learned from developing the student learning outcomes statement. As he sees it, identifying student learning outcomes requires thoughtful coordination across the campus and depends on clear communication. He also thought it was important to fully involve cocurricular programs from the beginning in establishing student learning outcomes. Brown said, “We need to look at the learning we’re trying to provide in a more holistic manner. To approach it in a different way, you miss students who learn in different ways.”
Learn more about how this institution is committed to improving student learning outcomes assessment by viewing their Presidents' Alliance Action Plan.
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READING LIST
Current Industry Articles and Reports
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Seven leaders respond to the question, Do College-Completion Rates Really Measure Quality? in a Chronicle of Higher Education commentary.
Completion and Quality at CUNY discusses the lawsuit brought about by faculty members to stop a general education curriculm revision that they believe puts graduation rates ahead of academic rigor and scarifies quality.
Daniel de Vise, in The Washington Post, writes about how much students learn before graduation in Trying to Assess Learning Gives Colleges Their Own Test Anxiety.
In College accountability: A Closer Look and College Learning Tests Might Not Be The Answer, Daniel de Vise addresses accountability in his blog, College Inc.
Neal Conan interviews Jeffrey Steedle (Council for Aid in Education), Dan Berrett (Chronicle of Higher Education), and Clarence Page (Chicago Tribune) for NPS's Talk of the Nation. How Should We Test Students' College Educations? is a discussion about reliable ways to measure the value of college and what students actually learn, and the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA).
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NEW MEMBERS OF THE PRESIDENTS’ ALLIANCE
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The Presidents' Alliance for Excellence in Student Learning and Accountability welcomes Clemson University, Coker College, Dominican University, Gwynedd-Mercy College, and Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Learn more about how these institutions are committed to improving student learning by viewing their Action Plans on the Alliance's website.
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NEW ENDORSEMENTS FOR COMMITTING TO QUALITY
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Committing to Quality: Guidelines for Assessment and Accountability in Higher Education has been endorsed by three additional national organizations - the Association for Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB), the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and the National Society for Experiential Education (NSEE).
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KEEPING THE FOCUS ON QUALITY
Free Webinar About the Alliance and Its Initiatives
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Higher education is taking center stage in the national dialouge about opportunity, equity, and economic success. With growing national attention on college cost and quantity of degrees awarded, U.S. higher education must take the lead and refocus the dialogue on quality. A true focus on quality will require everyone on college and university campuses — presidents and chancellors, faculty members, academic and student affairs administrators, and students — to work together to answer the question “Are our students learning?”
This webinar will introduce participants to the New Leadership Alliance for Student Learning and Accountability. Participants will hear about the Alliance's publication, Committing to Quality - Guidelines for Assessment and Accountability in Higher Education, which provides a roadmap for discussing educational quality and taking action to improve it. Participants will also learn about the Presidents' Alliance for Excellence is Student Learning and Accountability and how to make a public commitment to improving assessment practices in order to ensure quality.
If you are interested in learning more about the Alliance, please complete the webinar registration form for the appropriate date.
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SEND US YOUR FEEDBACK
| As always, we welcome and appreciate feedback from our supporters.
If you would like to share your comments and/or suggestions, please e-mail us at office@newleadershipalliance.org.
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