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Sector Spotlight
Report Release: Reforming Teacher Pensions for a Changing Work Force
New Education Sector report examines teacher pensions and details the problems facing current state pension programs.
Sport or Not? A Question for the Courts
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Education Sector's board of directors names three prominent leaders in the fields of education and journalism to the board: David W. Breneman, Richard Lee Colvin, and Peter McWalters.
For-profit colleges: Do they shortchange students?
Policy Director Kevin Carey comments on a recent Senate HELP Committee hearing on for-profit colleges.
Media Room
Education Sector Press Releases
For Release: Grading State Higher Education Accountability Systems
New report rates the effectiveness of every state higher education accountability system, calling attention to the need for policy change.
- Publication Date:
- June 30, 2009
For Immediate Release: June 30, 2009
Contact: Renée Rybak, 202.552.2853
Washington, D.C.—States need strong higher education systems, now more than ever. In the tumultuous, highly competitive 21st century economy, citizens and workers need knowledge, skills, and credentials in order to prosper. Yet many colleges and universities are falling short. And with President Obama's recent call for more college graduates by 2020 and for every American to have some type of postsecondary learning, it is certain that higher education systems will be vital to our nation's future success.
In 2008 and 2009, Education Sector conducted a comprehensive analysis of higher education accountability systems in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico to identify what information states collect on their higher education institutions and how it is used to improve them.
In a new Education Sector report, Ready to Assemble: Grading State Higher Education Accountability Systems, Policy Analyst Chad Aldeman and Policy Director Kevin Carey summarize the current state of state higher education accountability systems and score individual states in 21 categories, ranging from how well states measure student learning outcomes to how well states link accountability information to funding.
While individual states are doing some things well, only 10 states received an overall "Best Practice" rating. Most states earned "In Progress" or "Needs Improvement" scores, highlighting the dearth of comprehensive accountability systems that paint a multidimensional picture of how well our colleges and universities are succeeding.
States are accumulating more information about more things in higher education than ever before, say Aldeman and Carey, but no state is gathering all the information that is potentially available. To give all students the best possible postsecondary education, states must create smart, effective higher education accountability systems, modeled from the best practices of their peers, and set bold, concrete goals for achievement.
Read: Ready to Assemble: Grading State Higher Education Accountability Systems.
Also, visit our interactive map display and individual state score cards to learn how your state measures up.
This report was funded by Lumina Foundation. The views expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of Lumina Foundation for Education, its officers, or employees.
Education Sector is an independent think tank that challenges conventional thinking in education policy. We are a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization committed to achieving measurable impact in education, both by improving existing reform initiatives and by developing new, innovative solutions to our nation's most pressing education problems.
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