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|Demonstrating Achievement Through Assessment and Accountability
October 12, 2006
University Faculty and Associates Meeting
Good afternoon. Please join me once again in recognizing the outstanding achievements of our colleagues.
At celebrations like this, it’s tempting to conclude that all is well within our colleges and universities. After all, the students touched by faculty such as those we just recognized have surely been enriched. Our communities have benefited immensely from your contributions, and we are rightfully proud of what we do and what we accomplish.
In contrast to this hopeful picture, however, there is another view of higher education. This view is far less optimistic, and I’m sad to say, increasingly common among parents, elected officials, and governing boards.
Consider the following:
- The most recent National Assessment of Adult Literacy survey reported that less than one-third of college graduates are able to demonstrate an ability to read complex tests and make complicated inferences.
- Today, just over half of students entering college will complete their bachelor’s degree within six-years. At UT-Arlington, that number is closer to 40%.
- While America’s colleges and universities have successfully increased access to higher education—witnessing a 20 percent jump in the past 20 years—the number of students graduating has only increased by 3 percent.
The cost associated with educating a college student has increased 375 percent
from since 1982. By comparison, the cost associated with medical care has increased
only 223 percent during the same period. Coupled with this dramatic increase
is the fact that state appropriations to universities are shrinking all across
the country. In 1982, UT Arlington’s operating budget was composed of
80% state funding and 20% student tuition and fees. In 2005, only 40% came
from the state while 60% came from our students.
American students appear to be less successful, to the point that our nation’s
once undisputed educational pre-eminence in the world is in question. In
a recent Newsweek poll, less than half of the world’s top 100 universities
were American. This would have been unimaginable a generation ago.
Recently, this problem attracted national focus when the Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings, appointed a commission to examine the state of higher education. (This commission was chaired by Charles Miller, past chair of our own UT System Board of Regents.)
Secretary Spellings noted that American higher education is in a state of “dangerous complacency.” She said: “We have sold the dream of college. Kids believe they should go. … They believe this is the key to their futures. And more and more, it’s unattainable, with respect to affordability and preparedness.”
Is it possible to reconcile these two views of higher education? On the one hand, as members of the academy, we have focused our careers on teaching students, advancing scholarship, and contributing to our professions and communities. We have among our ranks, the most learned members of society who are accustomed to succeeding at the highest level. But on the other hand, we are confronted with unmistakable evidence that we are falling short.
My point in highlighting these two extreme views is this: We are neither as good as we claim to be, nor are we as poor as our critics suggest. While we have reason to be proud of what we do and accomplish, it would be a mistake—a serious mistake!—for us to believe that we could not do better.
At the same time, our critics, while raising some important issues, fail to recognize the nuances and complexities of today’s higher education landscape. Too often, their criticisms are based on an overly simplistic assessment of reality. For example, while it is true that we should strive to improve our graduation rates and quicken the time to graduation—and we at UT Arlington are taking a number of steps to address this challenge—using simple measures, such as the six-year graduation rate, cannot accurately assess where we are. Such a measurement does not account for important factors such as the large number of non-traditional students, or that more and more students are working to off-set the rising costs of tuition, thereby delaying their graduation.
It’s clear that simple, “one-size-fits-all” approaches will not bring us a true measure of effectiveness. And yet the public has every right to expect results. Our challenge is to meet these expectations head on and do a much better job of explaining our value.
To be blunt, we may do an outstanding job in our classrooms, our labs, and our studios, but we have done an inadequate job explaining what we do, why it matters, and how we know we are successful. It is essential that the academy itself lead the call for accountability in higher education. From my vantage point, it is much better for us to lead and shape this discussion instead of mounting a defensive reaction. It is not time to hunker down. It is time to help the public engage with us more effectively.
As Derek Bok, President of Harvard University, recently noted in his book, Our Underachieving Colleges, who better to tell our story than us—and who better to design effective solutions to our shortcomings than our nation’s leading scholars? Universities are full of experts on virtually every problem that confronts our society—including education and student learning. Instead of waiting for legislators, governing bodies, and accreditors to prescribe accountability standards and models of student learning, we should look to those among us who are experts in this field for solutions.
While assessment and accountability have become fashionable in recent years, they’re not new concepts to higher education. What is new is the increased public scrutiny placed on activities that before now were largely internal matters.
Universities, ours included, have long relied on assessment tools such as SAT and GRE scores, math placement tests, and licensure exams. We have developed internal unit effectiveness plans, engaged in academic program evaluation, and responded to peer reviews from a variety of professional associations. While these tools are useful, they have served internal purposes and do not translate well to parents who want to know how well we’re going to educate their son or daughter, and to public officials who demand accountability for the tax dollars they provide. Most of our tools do not effectively explain externally the value added that higher education represents.
Fortunately, The UT System and our regional accrediting body are at the forefront of developing meaningful ways for us to communicate to the public. Under the leadership of then-Chair of the Board of Regents Charles Miller—the same Charles Miller who chaired the Spellings Commission—The UT System developed an extensive set of accountability measures that offer at least two benefits over the measures historically used by others.
First, the wide variety of measures and the standardization of reporting requirements across all UT System institutions provide rare side-by-side comparisons. These allow us to see, for example, our graduation rates, retention rates, and other performance measures more accurately and in comparison to our peers in The UT System.
Second, The UT System accountability report includes measures that attempt to get at the complex reality of today’s higher education environment. For example, instead of examining just a simple six-year graduation rate, the accountability report gives an institution ‘credit’ for students who transfer to another institution to complete their degree, as well as ‘credit’ for the persistence in earning the degree, regardless of how long it takes. This is particularly relevant to UT Arlington because almost half of our students are transfer students. As a result, instead of UT Arlington having a 40% six-year graduation rate using the traditional metric, we have a 60% six-year graduation and persistence rate. Such measures are more complex, but provide a truer picture of our performance. A more accurate picture of reality.
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) have also provided a vehicle for us to think about what we do and how we know we’re successful. As you all know, this is the year for our SACS reaffirmation. Part of this process includes our developing and implementing a quality enhancement plan that focuses on student learning outcomes. As you know, we intend to focus on students’ higher-order thinking skills through active learning. These are the same skills that recent studies find lacking in college graduates. I firmly believe that this plan, when fully implemented, will make a measurable difference in our students’ ability to apply, analyze, synthesize, and critically evaluate information.
In short, our ability to help students improve these thinking skills—and to provide convincing evidence that we have been successful in our endeavor—is the very sort of assessment and accountability we should embrace and champion.
For the past two decades, tremendous change has been swirling around us. We are grappling with the new realities of a global economy. The nature of public education is significantly different now that it was just a few years ago. Just look at the challenges in the K-12 system or a political system that demands more accountability but provides fewer and fewer dollars in support.
All of this as our country faces major threats to its competitiveness. Our colleges and universities will be critical to our country’s future security and well-being, but only if the public is made to understand our role. It is time for us to seize the moment and regain the public trust.
Our challenge is to look for ways in which we can lead the national dialogue on accountability and assessment. We must create measures of accountability that are accurate, clear, and understandable but without being overly simplistic. We must recognize that higher education in this country is as diverse as the students who study on our campuses. Our assessments cannot be one-size-fits-all. And most importantly, we have to document the story of our success, and tell it convincingly. Just as we have devoted time and energy to describing what it means to be a Maverick, we also need to explain, in a systematic and compelling way, how we change the lives of the students we engage.
The individuals we honored today with our highest academic rank made countless
contributions to UT Arlington and our students. Our job is to ensure that students,
parents, and public officials recognize and celebrate—just as we do—the
role we play collectively toward the betterment of our society.
