Perhaps it’s just me, but the guidelines for dialogue on reforming American higher education contained in “Committing to Quality: Guidelines for Assessment and Accountability in Higher Education” seem incredibly vacuous. They include “set ambitious goals” and “gather, use, and report evidence of student learning.” I’m not even sure whether this document can be called a report in the fullest sense of the word, but here it is.
There’s also an op-ed in the Washington Post by the executive director of the New Leadership Alliance, which published “Committing to Quality.”
In 1940, the American Association of University Professors published the “Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure.” That document offered principles that it believed should govern the role of faculty members in higher education. At the time of its publication, only two organizations, it and the Association of American Colleges and Universities, endorsed it, and in the time since, the number of endorsements has risen to over 200. These principles have been adopted, used, and modified appropriately over the years and have had a significant impact in defining higher education in the United States.
We in the New Leadership Alliance intend “Committing to Quality” to have the same kind of impact in establishing evidence-based improvement of student learning as a central focus of higher education. We urge all those in college and university communities — presidents and chancellors, faculty members, academic and student affairs administrators — to share and discuss these principles and, ultimately, to put them into practice. As “Committing to Quality” concludes, “If colleges and universities focus on evidence-based improvement of student learning outcomes, they will be true to their societal responsibilities and serve the common good. Our students and our nation deserve nothing less.”