Getting Serious about Outcomes
With the announcement last week of an ambitious plan to insert the federal government into higher education as an arbiter of cost and quality, the Obama administration is signaling a heightened focus on outcomes at least in the university sector. As with most such federal initiatives, the lever manipulated by the Department of Education will likely be financial, given that the government backs the lion's share of student loans in the United States.cell phone spyFrom the NY Times:
In his 2012 State of the Union address, [Obama] said he was putting colleges on notice that if tuition did not stop rising faster than inflation, financing from taxpayers would drop. And in this year’s State of the Union speech, he urged Congress to consider affordability and value in awarding federal aid, and followed up with a policy plan recommending that those measures be incorporated into the accreditation system.
Putting side the political/philosophical/measurement issues at play here, what this means is that the debate over outcomes is likely to be front-and-center for some time to come. Regular readers of this blog will note that we have been outspoken in encouraging private, independent and international K-12 schools to be clearer about value propositions and demonstrations of delivery via outcome measurement.Elite universities--the Ivies, near-Ivies and public Ivies--have little to worry about in whatever ranking schema the feds develop. To a large extent, their value proposition is isomorphic with their brand. Rather, it is the hundreds or thousands of other colleges and universities that must live or die by the rankings and subsequent flow of federal funds.Given that an independent K-12 education is more expensive than university in many urban markets, it is both reasonable and rational for parents to ask the same outcome questions of us. Top schools in each market likely have little to fear, but the others--the vast majority of schools--will have some serious explaining to do.Thanks to Cynthia Berkshire for the pointer.