James Horn (2006), in his ARN-L post of 14 Jul 2006 12:43:36-0400
titled "The Miller Analogy" wrote [bracketed by lines "HHHHHHHH. . .
."; my inserts at
". . . [.....]. . ."]:
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Now it is becoming increasingly clear that one of the goals of the
Miller Mission. . .[Charles Miller is chair of the U.S. Dept. of
Education's "Commission on the Future of Higher Education," see e.g.,
Lederman (2006)]. . . . is fill in the gap for "data" on every
student who ever enters a college or university and to track them
right into adulthood and the workplace and into retirement . . . . In
other words, MILLER INTENDS TO DO THE CONSERVATIVE BIDDING TO HAVE
THE UNIVERSITY PICK UP WHERE NCLB LEAVES OFF. [My CAPS.]
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[Quoting from Stripling (2006)]:
"Despite, privacy issues, commission says tracking would improve
colleges' accountability. A plan to track college students throughout
their academic careers, and perhaps well into their time in the
workforce, has some fearing that private student records will be
exposed in a Big Brother-style program. The Commission on the Future
of Higher Education, appointed last fall by the U.S. Secretary of
Education, is considering a system that would require colleges to
submit individual student data to the federal government. Students'
academic, enrollment and financial aid information all could be
subject to federal scrutiny under the plan."
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
According to Lederman (2006):
". . . many if not most of the initial draft's findings and
recommendations remain intact, a fact many college officials will
rue. The second draft, like the first, calls for the creation of a
national "unit records" system. . . [see 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."
In my opinion, higher education has only itself to blame for the
Miller Commission's push to enhance the accountability of American
higher education. Richard Hirsh (2005), former president of Hobart &
William Smith Colleges and
Trinity College, in an Atlantic Monthly article "What Does College
Teach?" wrote [my CAPS]: ". . . in an era when the importance of a
college diploma is increasing while public support for universities
is diminishing, . . . assessment is desperately needed. The real
question is who will control it. Legislators are prepared to force
the issue: Congress raised the question of quality during its recent
hearings on the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act; all
regional accrediting agencies and more THAN FORTY STATES NOW REQUIRE
EVIDENCE OF **STUDENT LEARNING** FROM THEIR COLLEGES AND
UNIVERSITIES; and pressure is rising to extend a No Child Left
Behind-style testing regime. . .[USDE (2005)]. . . to higher
education. To date academe has offered little in response, apart from
resistance in the name of intellectual freedom and faculty autonomy.
These are legitimate professional prerogatives; but UNLESS THE
ACADEMY IS WILLING TO ASSESS LEARNING IN MORE RIGOROUS WAYS. . .
[than, e.g., Student Evaluations of Teaching]. . . , THE CRY FOR
ENFORCED ACCOUNTABILITY WILL BECOME LOUDER, AND GOVERNMENT
INTERVENTION WILL BECOME MORE LIKELY." [My CAPS.]
Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
24245 Hatteras Street, Woodland Hills, CA 91367
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi>
"What are the prospects for turning colleges into effective learning
organization? Not good, unfortunately. The weaknesses of
undergraduate education may be real, but they serve important faculty
interests."
Derek Bok (2005, p. 323)
REFERENCES [Tiny URL's courtesy <http://tinyurl.com/create.php>.]
Bok, D. 2005. "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>.
Campbell, P., J. Horn, & J. Rabin. 2006. "Schools Matter" Blog,
online at <http://schoolsmatter.blogspot.com/>.
Hirsh, 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://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200511/measuring-college-quality>,
and (b) (with hot-linked academic references) to educators at
<http://tinyurl.com/9nqon> (scroll to the APPENDIX).
Horn, J. 2006. "Miller Analogies and Spellings' Commission Mission,"
online at
<http://schoolsmatter.blogspot.com/2006/07/miller-analogies-and-spellings.html>,
a contribution to the Blog of Campbell et al. (2006).
Lederman, D. 2006. "Commission Report, Take 2," Inside Higher Ed, 17
July, online at
<http://insidehighered.com/news/2006/07/17/commission>.
Powers, E. 2006. "Wrangling Over Unit Records," Inside Higher Ed, 7
July, online at
<http://insidehighered.com/news/2006/07/07/unitrecord>.
Stripling, J. 2006. "Commission proposes federal tracking of students
to improve colleges' accountability," Gainesville Sun Online, 13
July; online at
<http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060713/LOCAL/207130317/1078/news>,
or more compactly at <http://tinyurl.com/qo685>.
USDE. 2005. U.S. Department of Education, No Child Left Behind Act,
online at <http://www.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml?src=pb>.
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