Officials Urge Accountability In Universities

Lawmakers and education officials are turning the spotlight on accountability in higher education, as billions in taxpayers' money pumps in with inconsistent results.

The issue gained momentum last week when U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings made headlines for suggesting that states apply an accountability system similar to the K-12 No Child Left Behind policy to higher education, which sent ripples across academic circles nationwide.

"The vast majority of states credit No Child Left Behind with improving academic performance," she said in a Feb. 14 address. "And I believe states and post-secondary institutions should view it as a model as you work to close your own achievement gap."

Universities hold themselves accountable by keeping tabs on progress and academic success through a variety of means, ranging from graduation rates to enrollment figures.

Within the past two decades, legislators and the public have grown more attentive to the issue, especially as fiscal conditions fluctuate year to year, said David Leveille of the Center for Studies in Higher Education.

"Many voices are calling for more disclosure and increased transparency in what the outcomes are for the dollars spent in higher education," he said.

But implementing a blanket system would be difficult, given the complex structure of higher education institutions, Leveille said.

UC officials said the California Master Plan for Education, which guides the state's three public education systems, is a model for accountability in higher education.

"It holds the institutions accountable for finding a place for every qualified student," said UC spokesperson Todd Greenspan.

A compact reached between UC and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in May reaffirms how UC will be more accountable to the state, calling for timely graduation and enrollment standards in addition to other requirements.

UC sends annual reports, which include measures ranging from performance to graduate quality to the California Post-secondary Education system, the state Legislature and nonprofit centers for higher education.

But a report measuring higher education accountability efforts in the nation to be released next month finds that California lags behind other states, said Candice Chung, spokesperson for Assemblymember Carol Liu, D-La Canada Flintridge.

Liu introduced a bill last month to close that gap by developing a system focused on explicit goals, on top of annual progress assessments.

"We must become more focused on priorities, more rigorous in assessing results and more effective in improving performance in response to public needs," Liu said in a statement.

Some institutions are already moving toward standardized testing to answer Liu's call.

This spring, 60 colleges nationwide, including Sonoma State University and CSU Monterey Bay, will run a trial assessment based on the Graduate Record Examination to track students' critical thinking and communication skills.

By comparing both freshmen and seniors, it is possible to measure the impact the university has on student learning, said Abe Abrams, a CSU Monterey Bay research analyst.

Still, some officials doubt that a standardized accountability policy would be sufficient and said higher education cannot be tailored into one mold.

"Higher education in most states is diverse and does not easily adapt to a one size fits all kind of regulatory environment," Leveille said.

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