Building on President Bush’s No Child Left Behind law that put standardized testing into public K-12 schools, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings wants to make sure the billions of taxpayers’ dollars that support colleges and universities are well spent. More than that, she sees government as a protector of education “consumers.”
Spellings has proposed assessments for colleges. These assessments would ensure that colleges were providing students a quality education, one that would not only lead to a degree, but also ensure that students had the skills needed to compete for jobs in the global economy. Additionally, colleges failing to earn a certain score or meet a certain standard could be cut off from their life’s blood–federal financial aid. Schools who consistently fail to meet standards would not be able to offer financial aid to students, potentially leading top students to attend rival colleges.
Currently, students and parents rely on magazine and web rankings of colleges to identify colleges to which they will apply. These rankings are largely based on the schools’ reputations, features or benefits identified by the schools, and/or the votes of students and faculty; not on whether or not the students actually graduate, or whether they have the skills required to fill jobs in the local or global job market. Spellings proposes to position assessment scores as competitors, or at least counterpoints, to magazine and web rankings. All college assessment scores will be published on the web to allow students to compare them to those provided by other publishers.
While educators aren’t in love with rankings published by U.S. News & World Report (the publisher of the most influential rankings), they are equally leery of Spellings’ proposal of college assessments. The contention appears to center on just how strict the standards might be, and the consequences of failure: Some colleges will go under, and/or be forced to turn away talented students from low-income families because they would not be able to offer financial aid.
Spellings insists that published assessment scores will create transparency and accountability. Her goal appears to be two-fold: Help students select colleges that actually prepare them for success, and ensure that taxpayers’ dollars are not wasted.
Negotiations begin again April 24, with the federal rules expected to take force by July 2008.Related Article