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ABSTRACT: The U.S. Department of Education's "Commission on the
Future of Higher Education" is considering NCLB-type tracking of
college students. In response to a subscriber's request, I list some
references relevant to this ominous possibility.
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Sandra Schneider (2006), in her ARN-L post of 28 Jul titled "Re: NCLB
gaze turned to higher ed" wrote:
"I thought I remembered seeing some discussion on the list in regards
to the DOE via NCLB turning it gaze more specifically to higher Ed.,
and what the outcomes and 'product' of higher Ed. should be. Is
anyone familiar with any of this or can point me toward some sources
and discussions that can get me up to speed on this?"
For discussion of the NCLB-type tracking of higher education students
currently being considered by the U.S. Dept. of Education's
"Commission on the Future of Higher Education" [USDE (2005)] chaired
by Charles Miller, see, e.g., Hake (2006a,b)], Horn (2006), and
Stripling (2006). For a statement of the chair's sentiments see
Miller (2006)].
In addition - news reports, commentaries, and web resources relevant
to the commission have appeared regularly in the free "Inside Higher
Ed" <http://www.insidehighered.com/>, as listed and hot linked at "In
Focus: The Spellings Commission" [IHE (2006)].
Of particular current interest are the more recent reports by
Lederman (2006a,b,c,d) and Powers (2006); and the provocative
commentaries by Lombardi (2006), and Dorn (2006).
Doug Lederman (2006c) in his "Commission Report, Take 2," wrote
[bracketed by lines "LLLLLLLLL. . . ."; my inserts at ". . .[...]. .
."]:
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
The second draft. .
.[<http://insidehighered.com/index.php/content/download/75172/1024789/file/Report%20Master%20Draft%20--%207-14-06.pdf>,
or more compactly <http://tinyurl.com/r2475> (120 KB)]. . . ., like
the first, calls for the creation of a national "unit records"
system. . .[Powers (2006)]. . . to track students' performance
through their academic careers and into the work place (though it
calls the proposal something else), and urges the collection and
publication of significantly more information that colleges have
either not collected or, more often, held close to the vest.
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
All of this was foreseen by Richard Hersh (2005) who wrote: ". . . in
an era when the importance of a college diploma is increasing while
public support for universities is diminishing, [assessment of
student learning] is desperately needed. The real question is who
will control it. . . .pressure is rising to extend a No Child Left
Behind style testing regime to higher education."
Thus it would appear to be high time for faculty members to turn more
of their attention to shifting the higher education paradigm from
teaching to learning [Barr & Tagg (1995), Hake (2005)], both because
*it's the right thing to do*, and because not doing so may invite
stifling oversight by state and national bureaucrats.
"A remarkable feature of American colleges is the lack of attention
that most faculties pay to the growing body of research about how
much students are learning and how they could be taught to learn more.
Derek Bok (2005a)
REFERENCES [Tiny URL's courtesy <http://tinyurl.com/create.php>.]
Barr, R.B. & J. Tagg. 1995. "From Teaching to Learning: A New
Paradigm for Undergraduate Education," Change 27(6); 13-25,
November/December. Reprinted in D. Dezure, "Learning from Change:
Landmarks in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education from Change
1969-1999." American Association for Higher Education, pp. 198-200.
Also online at
<http://tinyurl.com/8g6r4>.
Bok, D. 2005a. "Are colleges failing? Higher ed needs new lesson
plans" Boston Globe, 18 December, freely online (probably only for a
short time) at
<http://tinyurl.com/da5v2 >, and to educators at
<http://tinyurl.com/aj95w> (scroll to the APPENDIX). Bok wrote: ". .
. studies indicate that problem-based discussion, group study, and
other forms of active learning produce greater gains in critical
thinking than lectures, yet the lecture format is still the standard
in most college classes, especially in large universities." See also
Bok (2005b)
Bok, D. 2005b. "Our Underachieving Colleges: A Candid Look at How
Much Students Learn and Why They Should Be Learning More." Princeton
University Press. Amazon.com information is at
<http://tinyurl.com/bnn8c>.
Hersh, R.H. 2005. "What Does College Teach? It's time to put an end
to 'faith-based' acceptance of higher education's quality," Atlantic
Monthly 296(4): 140-143, November; freely online to (a) subscribers
of the Atlantic Monthly at <http://tinyurl.com/dwss8>, and (b) (with
hot-linked academic references) to educators at
<http://tinyurl.com/9nqon> (scroll to the APPENDIX).
IHE. 2006. Inside Higher Ed, "In Focus: The Spellings Commission,"
July, online at <http://insidehighered.com/news/focus/commission>:
"Since September 2005, the Secretary of Education's Commission on the
Future of Higher Education has generated enormous discussion about
the role and performance of higher education in the United States.
This page brings together Inside Higher Ed's coverage of the
commission, as well as other relevant information about the panel."
USDE. 2005. U.S. Dept. of Education, "Secretary Spellings Announces
New Commission on the Future of Higher Education," press release
online at
<http://tinyurl.com/cxgfz>: "Spellings noted that the achievement gap
is closing and test scores are rising among our nation's younger
students, due largely to the high standards and accountability
measures called for by the No Child Left Behind Act. 'More and more
students are going to graduate ready for the challenges of college,'
she said, and 'we must make sure our higher education system is
accessible and affordable for all these students.' "