Accountability Pressures and Their Impact on Regional Accreditation

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Accountability Pressures and Their Impact on
Regional Accreditation
Northern Illinois University September 12, 2008
Linda Suskie, Vice President Middle States
Commission on Higher Education 3624 Market
Street, Philadelphia PA 19104 Web
www.msche.org E-mail LSuskie_at_msche.org
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The US Accreditation System

• Regional accreditors
• All require liberal arts foundation
• Oldest, strongest reputation
• National accreditors
• Colleges without liberal arts foundation
• Specialized accreditors
• Mostly programs, not colleges
• State licensure
• All accreditors voluntary, membership-controlled
• Students can receive Federal financial aid only
  if they attend a college accredited by a
  Federally-recognized accreditor.

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1965 Higher Education Act (HEA)

• Title IV funds go only to colleges accredited by
  Federally recognized accreditor.
• Pell, SEOG, Trio, Migrant
• Federally-insured student loans
• Accreditors must comply with HEA criteria to be
  recognized.

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1980s and 1990s

• HEA reauthorization
• 1986 First outcomes assessment language
• 1998 Assessment language strengthened
• Regional accreditors rewrote standards to
  emphasize assessment of student learning outcomes

• Learning-centered movement
• 1980s Movementand assessment movementbegan
• 1995 Barr Taggs seminal article in Change
  published

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Today Context 1

• U. S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings
• Daughters college search experience
• Commission on the Future of Higher Education
  (Spellings Commission)

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Today Context 2

• Commission on the Future of Higher Education
  (Spellings Commission)
• Chaired by Charles Miller
• Concluded
• College graduates are less well-educated
• Based on National Assessment of Adult Literacy
• Accreditors look at inputs, not outcomes
• Recommended
• Comparable assessments
• Value-added assessments

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Today Context 3

• Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA)
• Developed by Rand, published by Council for the
  Advancement of Education (CAE)

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Today Context 4

• Negotiated rule-making (neg reg)
• How the U.S. Secretary of Education implements
  HEAs criteria for accreditors
• 3 meetings
• If not unanimous consensus, U.S. Secretary of
  Education sets her own rules.

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Today Context 5

• National Advisory Committee on Institutional
  Quality and Integrity (NACIQI)
• Reviews and recognizes accrediting agencies
• All appointed by U.S. Secretary of Education

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Today Context 6

• Higher Education Act reauthorization
• Expired in 2004
• Finally signed into law in August 2008

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A Changing World

• Higher educations historic lack of interest in
  economy, efficiency, effectiveness
• Higher educations historic reticence, if not
  arrogance
• Shifting public policy
• Higher education is more a private than public
  good.
• More cost shifted to student
• Broadening market for higher education
• Most well-paying jobs require post-secondary
  education
• Students families want
• Better pay, not necessarily a richer education
• Assurance theyll get their moneys worth for
  their investment

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What Might We Do to Meet Calls for
Accountability to the Public?
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Point to Existing Forthcoming Public Resources

• College Navigator (USED)
• College Board
• Education Trust
• USA Today/NSSE
• US News World Report
• Kiplingers
• Barrons
• Washington Monthly

• College Portrait (NASULGC/AASCU)
• U-CAN (NAICU)
• Transparency by Design (Presidents Forum of
  Excelsior College)
• National Association of System Heads

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Recognize that Every Measure of Institutional
Effectiveness is Imperfect

• Retention graduation rates
• Published instruments
• Comparable measures
• Value-added measures

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Tell the Story of Your Institutions
Effectiveness to Your Key Publics

• Easy to find and easy to understand.
• Justify why this particular story is the
  appropriate one.
• Narrative analysis as well as numbers facts.
• Feel free to link to other resources as
  appropriate.

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1. How Do You Define a Successful Student?

• What knowledge, skills, competencies, and
  attributes does a successful student have?
• Why do you think these are important?

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2. What Evidence Do You Have That Students Meet
Your Definition of Success?

• Must include
• outcomes
• direct evidence of student learning
• multiple measures

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3. How Effective Are You in Ensuring that
Students Are Achieving Their Goals in a Timely
Fashion?

• Retention
• Transfer
• Graduation
• Placement
• Post-college success

• As appropriate and defined appropriately
• May require new algorithms
• May require new data collection mechanisms

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4. Are You Satisfied with Your Results?

• Why or why not? Are students doing better than..
• Peers?
• How were peers selected? Why?
• When they entered?
• Past students?
• An established standard?
• Pass rate on licensure/certification exam
• Locally-established standard How determined?
• Help the public distinguish meaningful from
  trivial differences.
• If not, what are you doing about it?

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All in25 Words or Less!
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Regional Accreditors Role?

• Evaluate how well institutions provide this
  information answer these questions.
• Accurately
• Truthfully
• Meaningfully
• Clearly
• Accessibly
• Provide clearer, more accessible information on
  accreditation status.

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The current quest for accountability creates a
precious opportunity for educators to tell the
full range of stories about learning and teaching.

• Lee Shulman

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Key Obstacles Regarding Assessment
Accountability

• Assessments twin masters Accountability
  improvement
• Pressure to
• provide a few simple numbers
• be transparent (clear and understandable to the
  public)
• facilitate comparability
• look good

• Foot-dragging
• Lack of understanding of assessment, including
  its value importance
• Lack of resources to engage in assessment
• Fear of change risk-taking

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Lack of Understanding of Assessment

• No clear purpose (goals, targets) for curricula
  assessment
• Ignorance of research on effective teaching
• Using assessment to improve teaching as well as
  assign grades
• Fear that results will lead to program cuts,
  faculty terminations
• Assessment is complex and requires special
  expertise.
• Must use a published test
• What were teaching cant be assessed.
• Assessment violates principles of academic
  freedom.

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Lack of Resources for Assessment

• Training on assessment methodologies
• Incentives rewards
• For work on assessment
• For work on improving curricula pedagogies
• Especially core requirements without clear
  ownership
• Time to work on assessment
• Administrative support coordination
• Technical support
• Funds (for software, published instruments)

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Fear of Change Risk-Taking

• Satisfaction with the status quo, even if its
  mediocre
• Identified problems mean more time work to fix
  them!
• Political wrangling over curricular changes
• Need to work collaboratively rather than alone.
• Discouragement of risk-taking
• Attempts to improve teaching learning may fail.

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Laying a Foundation for Assessment Success
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Improve Understanding of Assessment

• Provide professional development (training).
• Provide clear guidelines.
• Provide feedback.
• Address misperceptions about academic freedom.
• Teachers are entitled to freedom in the classroom
  in discussing their subject.
• American Association of University Professors
  1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom
  Tenure

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Improve Resources for Assessment

• Incentives rewards
• Grants or stipends to get started on assessment
• Curricular improvement grants
• Value extraordinary work on assessment
• Time
• Stop doing something else.
• Minimize paperwork.
• Set priorities.
• Resources
• Administrative, technical, published tools

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Encourage Risk-Taking Change

• Value efforts to improve teaching
• Ernest Boyers scholarship of teaching
• Pay attention to results and use them to fund and
  make improvements!

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Keep Your Sanity!

• Recognize that some important goals cant be
  assessed.
• Realistic expectations for quality
• Dont expect to get everyone on board.

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Questions to Ask Yourselves

• Do faculty administrators understand value
  assessment?
• Is there adequate support for assessment?
• Time, support, professional development
• Are assessment efforts encouraged, recognized,
  valued?
• Are efforts to improve teaching honored valued?
• No excusesjust do it!