Accountability in Higher Education

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Accountability in Higher Education

• Belle S. Wheelan, Ph.D.
• Commission on Colleges--SACS

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Challenges

• Only 60 of American students graduate from high
  school in the south (70 nationally)
• By 2010, we will need 2 million more scientists
  and engineers and 2.4 million more workers with
  key manufacturing and production skills
• Currently, shortages in health care fields,
  construction, plumbers, machinists, etc.

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Challenges contd

• Students lack skills in basic math, science,
  information technology, critical thinking and
  analytical skills, and writing
• Fewer visas are being issued resulting in a
  shortage of foreign workers in some areas
• Baby boomer retirements will worsen the shortage
  of workers

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Challenges contd

• Expanding global competition
• Changes in American labor markets
• Exploding growth of knowledge
• Innovations in technology
• Increased Demands for higher skills

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RESULT

• Our competitiveness as a nation will mean
• Fewer innovations
• Jobs being sent overseas
• Fierce competition for competent workers
• Increase in wages to be paid because of
  competition for workers

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How to Respond

• Train more women in non-traditional areas
• Work with minority students while still in the
  K-12 system to ensure they are college ready
• Develop strategies that ensure students will
  matriculate through college to graduation
• Link courses thematically
• Promote service learning

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National Conversation(Spellings Commission)

• Access
• Affordability
• Private loans vs federal aid
• Accountability
• Student learning outcomes
• National Tracking System
• Transparency
• Graduation rates
• Job Placement Rates

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Activities After Commission Report

• Secretary accepted the Report in September 06
• Public hearings on need for negotiated
  rule-making process in Oct. 2006
• Meeting of accrediting community in Nov. 2006
• Negotiated rule-making in March, April and May
• Summit in March 2007
• Negotiations Failed
• Senate approves Reauthorization of HEA--2007
• House still to vote2007-08
• New round of negotiated rule-making--2008

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Responses to Report

• ETS Report, A Culture of Evidence
  Postsecondary Assessment and Learning Outcomes
• NASLGCU and AAUs
• ASPA
• CHEA
• Big Six

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Current National Issues (Post Spellings
Commission)

• Identification and Assessment of Student Learning
  Outcomes
• Use of Assessment Results
• Transfer of Academic Credits
• Greater Transparency
• Cost/Financial Aid
• Accountability

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History of Accreditation

• Based on philosophy that a free people can and
  ought to govern themselves through a
  representative, flexible, and responsive system.

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Purpose of Accreditation

• Signifies that an institution has a purpose
  appropriate to higher education and has
  resources, programs, and services sufficient to
  accomplish and sustain that purpose.
• Indicates that an institution maintains clearly
  specified educational objectives that are
  consistent with its mission and appropriate to
  the degrees it offers, and that it is successful
  in achieving its stated objectives.

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Principles of Accreditation

• Integrityhonest and open
• Thoughtful and principled judgment
• Rigorous application of requirements
• Context of Trust
• Voluntary participation
• Self-regulatory process (peer review)

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Process

• Provides an assessment of an institutions
  effectiveness in the fulfillment of its mission,
  its compliance with the requirements of its
  accrediting association, and its continuing
  efforts to enhance the quality of student
  learning and its programs and services
• Stimulates evaluation and improvement
• Provides continuing accountability to the public

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Issues Reviewed During Accreditation Process

• Fiscal Resources
• Governance
• Planning and Assessment
• Student Learning Outcomes
• Faculty
• Curriculum
• Support Services

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Assessment Strategies

• Benchmarking
• Increase in the use of data to make decisions
  about personnel, curriculum, etc.
• Types of Assessments
• NSSE
• CCSSE
• CAAP
• CLA

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Assessment Strategies contd

• Portfolios
• In-house surveys
• Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP)
• Academic Quality Improvement Project (AQIP)

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SO WHAT?

• Strong need to expose students to the broadest
  view of the world as it relates to each
  discipline
• Ensure graduates have specific, demonstrated and
  measurable competencies in the discipline, as
  well as applied and soft skills

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SO WHAT??

• Ensure that the curriculum you design fosters
  competency in the areas of reading, writing,
  math, science, technology, global integration,
  critical thinking, teamwork, ethics, diversity
  and life long learning
• Provide proof that your students can perform and,
  if they cant, ways to remediate their weaknesses

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Contact Information

• Belle S. Wheelan, Ph.D.
• bwheelan_at_sacscoc.org
• 404.679.4512