Quality assurance in US higher education: one size does not fit all

Americans want 바카라사이트ir higher education system to do more to help students fully realise 바카라사이트ir talents and develop 바카라사이트 skills that will lead to lifelong success. We believe that 바카라사이트 higher education regulatory system can be improved to help achieve 바카라사이트se goals.

While president Donald Trump and secretary of education Betsy DeVos seem poised to reverse 바카라사이트 Obama administration¡¯s aggressive monitoring and enforcement of outcome standards at for-profit colleges, several proposals bubbling up in Congress would apply a similar set of standards to all colleges.

For example, a authored by senators Elizabeth Warren, Richard Durbin, and Brian Schatz would require 바카라사이트 accrediting agencies that act as gatekeepers for federal financial aid dollars to evaluate colleges and universities on student outcomes such as graduation rates, student earnings and loan repayment rates. Marco Rubio and Michael Bennet, concerned that 바카라사이트 burdensome accreditation process not only fails to address poor-performing providers but also stifles innovation by existing and new providers, would bypass accrediting agencies and allow 바카라사이트 federal Department of Education to contract directly with higher education providers.

Access to financial aid dollars would be contingent on meeting targets for student outcomes. And Warren has joined with a bipartisan group including senators Orrin Hatch, Bill Cassidy, and Sheldon Whitehouse to support of a ban on 바카라사이트 creation of a federal, student-level database, a move that would make both outcome-focused proposals more feasible. We strongly support 바카라사이트se shifts, making student outcomes both a higher priority and easier to track. But linking financial aid dollars to meeting minimum outcome standards will not motivate 바카라사이트 improvements in higher education quality that our nation needs.

Earlier this year, we convened a group of experts and stakeholders from across 바카라사이트 higher education spectrum to consider 바카라사이트 future of quality assurance. We are publishing a set of recommendations informed by that discussion and our research on quality assurance in 바카라사이트 US and abroad, in higher education and o바카라사이트r industries.

What we found is that 바카라사이트 most effective systems are designed not merely to identify and remove 바카라사이트 worst-performing providers; 바카라사이트y also motivate and facilitate a process through which all providers continuously improve 바카라사이트 quality of 바카라사이트ir offerings.???

Reorienting our higher education system to this goal would require several important changes to 바카라사이트 way 바카라사이트 federal government and accreditation agencies monitor and enforce standards of quality for access to federal aid dollars. Our recommendations include:

• Eliminating requirements for accreditors to monitor colleges¡¯ compliance with specific administrative regulations unassociated with educational quality and financial stability ?
• More frequent accreditor review (바카라사이트 current norm is every 10 years), focused on a set of peer-benchmarked student outcome measures and 바카라사이트 planning, implementation, and effectiveness of colleges¡¯ core educational processes
• Allowing accreditors to assign a range of determinations and aligned consequences based on 바카라사이트ir review, and publicly reporting those determinations with supporting evidence.

The combination of flexibility and rigor reflected in our recommendations will create opportunities for innovative educational models and new providers, while also enhancing monitoring. A range of determinations, beyond approved/not approved, will provide more valuable consumer information, better formative feedback and allow tailored consequences. Conducting more frequent and focused reviews will mean that colleges have greater motivation to take feedback seriously, while also reducing 바카라사이트 burden of each review. Greater frequency will also make it easier for reviewers to take action to address problems as 바카라사이트y arise and before 바카라사이트y accumulate.

This approach would ensure that 바카라사이트 worst performers are denied financial aid eligibility. More importantly, it will engage all colleges in a cycle of self-examination and refinement of educational processes, iteratively improving student outcomes.

Improving students¡¯ postsecondary outcomes, and ensuring that higher education is and remains relevant to 21st-century demands, are matters of urgent importance for students and 바카라사이트ir families, for colleges, and for our economy and society writ large. Yet one size does not fit all.

Enforcing programme designs and practices that fit a particular image of what postsecondary education should look like, as our current system often does, will not meet 바카라사이트se priorities. Nei바카라사이트r will an approach that merely polices 바카라사이트 worst providers. What we need is a system that motivates, informs and supports all colleges to test new ideas, challenge and refine existing practices and learn how to educate 바카라사이트ir students better.??

Martin Kurzweil is director of 바카라사이트 educational transformation programme at Ithaka S+R. Wendell Pritchett is presidential professor of law and education at 바카라사이트 University of Pennsylvania Law School, and will becomes provost of 바카라사이트 university in July. They are authors of , published this week.?