tag: Quality assurance

As the pace of institutional closure increases for colleges and universities around the United States, the quality assurance ecosystem for postsecondary education becomes ever more essential. The three pillars of that ecosystem—the “triad” established by the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEA)—are the federal Department of Education (ED), the accreditation agencies recognized by ED, and the various state governments which authorize institutions to operate. Together, the triad serves as gatekeepers for student access to federal financial aid, which…

In early August, the federal Department of Education held a little known but statutorily required convening to maintain the balance of the higher education quality assurance ecosystem. Almost all US colleges and universities operate in this regulatory ecosystem, often described as the Triad, which consists of state governments that authorize institutions to operate, accreditation agencies that assure educational quality, and the federal government that administers student aid programs. Most higher education stakeholders will likely be familiar with accreditation…

Both houses of Congress are debating a set of bills to update portions of the Higher Education Act, the key federal postsecondary education law. The long-overdue refresh has been held up by disagreements over levels of funding, accountability, and how to handle sex discrimination under Title IX, among other issues.  Whenever the HEA finally does come up for reauthorization, the move to restore Pell grants to the incarcerated is expected to make the final draft. Legislators who care about improving…

Millions of Americans receive postsecondary training through programs that don’t lead to an associate’s or bachelor’s degree. What do these programs offer?  Who enrolls in them?  How do the students who complete these programs fare? These are some of the questions Jessie Brown and I sought to answer when we embarked on a research project for the Commission on the Future of Undergraduate Education at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The resulting paper, “The Complex Universe…

The U.S. quality assurance system—focused mainly on accreditation as a threshold for federal financial aid eligibility—has done a poor job of assuring quality. Barely 60 percent of first-time students complete a bachelor’s degree and 40 percent complete an associate’s degree at the institution where they started. These overall results mask a wide range of outcomes across institutions. As a result, many students, parents, and policymakers question the value of their massive investment in postsecondary education. Can the accreditation process be…