During the 33rd Annual Conference (Nov. 12-14, 2008, in Pasadena,) of the California Association for Institutional Research, “Making Good Decisions in: Challenging Times”, educational effectiveness as related to accountability and accreditation assumed center stage.
The Keynote by Teri Cannon, Exec. Assoc. Director for WASC, stated, “. . . the pressure for greater accountability and transparency [...]

The University of Nebraska announced their superior achievement in value-added learning based on students’ performance on the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA). The CLA is one of three performance-based measures (tests) of student learning approved for use on the College Portrait web template (Voluntary System of Accountability-VSA) to which UNR has signed on. The other tests [...]

The Higher Education Act may finally be re-authorized following a 40-4 vote of the Conference Committee last night, July 29, 2008. One provision in the legislation, which influences how accrediting agencies (Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities accredits UNR) go about reviewing campus-wide assessment of student learning, will:
“Bar the U.S. Education Department from issuing regulations [...]

During a 2008 Council for Higher Education Accreditation’s (CHEA) Summer Workshop Panel discussion, the CHEA president [Judith Eaton], an Education Department official, a key Congressional aide, and two accrediting agency leaders debated Eaton’s vision and, more fundamentally, the current state of the tension-filled system by which the federal government, accrediting agencies, states and colleges and [...]

DOE may still issue regulations for accrediting agencies’ oversight of colleges’ student learning outcomes. Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings, under pressure from Congress had agreed not to issue such regulations until the re-authorization of the Higher Education Act. As the final vote on this Act is expected by the July 4th recess, concerns mount [...]

Read/Respond - Cliff Adelman Comments, “You can’t sit on your hands on this one: . . .The present prospects are utter folly.”
In today’s Inside Higher Ed, Doug Lederman details the status of a House & Senate Conference Committee’s work to reconcile the HE Act by Memorial Day. Work not only remains on major difference between [...]