Quality: The Indispensable Word in the Push for “Access to Higher Education”
The Obama administration established a vision for America’s future that includes having the world’s largest share of college graduates by 2020. This goal requires a nationwide set of initiatives aimed at increasing from 40% to roughly 60% the percentage of adults in our country with completed college degrees and certificates.
The Lumina Foundation punched up the visibility of this ambitious target and is putting the full strength of its financial and human resources behind what it calls “an audacious goal” for higher education attainment. It’s so much a part of our culture that the phrase “Access to Higher Education” yields nearly 1.2 million results in a Google search.
We all know that for our democratic processes and national political dialogue to be less polarizing, for our country to succeed in our ever-flattening global economy, for our jobs to remain within our borders, for our underserved populations to change the trajectory of their families, our country must invest in a broad menu of strategies that will, when executed simultaneously, push open the floodgates and raise the education levels for US citizens in all demographic categories.
Sometimes lost in the effort to promote access and degree completion, however, is a focus on quality. In a 2003 Chronicle Review article, William F. Massy wrote that “When policy makers are asked to identify the biggest issues in higher education, they often cite college costs and high tuitions or access for underserved students. But, although those issues are important, resolving them will make little difference if colleges and universities don’t deliver high-quality education.”
I agree with William Massy. In fact, I believe that access to quality higher education is the key civil rights issue of the 21st Century. And so do many others who continue to articulate concerns about the quality of higher education in America and about how much students learn once they gain access.
Much criticism has been leveled at institutions that provide access but do not promote completion, or those that promote completion but cannot demonstrate adequate delivery of AAC&U’s Essential Learning Outcomes.
As we lament this shadow on the landscape of higher education, we should not overlook the bright spot created by our nation’s independent colleges and universities that already produce outstanding results for students. Those of us at Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) institutions know that overall our brand of education offers an affordable alternative that includes personal attention to students, focuses on high-impact practices resulting in essential learning outcomes, produces relatively high graduation rates even for “at risk” students, and inspires community involvement that continues after graduation.
Similarly, the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges (COPLAC) successfully strives to advance “high quality public liberal arts education in a student centered environment.” And other consortia such as the New American Colleges and Universities emphasize quality, in NACU’s case “to improve the quality and effectiveness of teaching and learning” by integrating liberal arts, professional studies, and civic responsibility. If space allowed, I could go on to list the dozens of consortia and individual institutions, private and public, that truly place quality, rather than efficiency, at the top of their priority list.
This means that as a whole, we are poised and ready to be part of the solution. Please join me in a public dialogue that teases out the values that drive our work and the “how” behind our positive outcomes. In this way, we refocus the national conversation on “quality” and call ourselves and others to engage in access initiatives and ongoing quality improvement in American higher education.
Recognizing quality in a rigorous way requires that we interrogate curricula and institutions with the right questions. I believe that there are three essential questions for all institutions to ask and answer:
- Does the content of the curriculum address 21st Century benchmarks for essential student learning outcomes?
- Are the students inspired to take advantage of those quality offerings as they matriculate?
- Does learning actually accrue, as a result of that student engagement?
What do you think? How are these questions useful? Do the questions apply to a broad range of institutional types? What am I missing? What are your thoughts?
5 Responses to Quality: The Indispensable Word in the Push for “Access to Higher Education”
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About This Blog
We need a national conversation about what it means to say that every US citizen -- regardless of demographic category -- should have access to quality higher education. Access involves readiness, opportunity, and support. Quality involves essential content, challenge, and engagement. This conversation is the place where access and quality intersect.
Join us as we probe the relationship between quality higher education and issues of affordability, globalization, civic engagement, and practical relevance.
When we do great things for education, we realize the great things education can do for our students, our cities, our country, and our world.
About Jayne Marie Comstock
Jayne Marie Comstock, PhD, writes and speaks frequently about quality assurance and assessment in academic programs, strategic planning in higher education, and practices that enhance student engagement and retention.
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Kyle,
I am pleased to know that the blog seems valuable to you. Please let me know if there are issues or concerns you would like for us to discuss.
You heard from my technical advisor, John Mugge, via email, but in case others have a similar question, I will include some of his guidance here, as well.
John says that RSS (“Really Simple Syndication”) is a method to achieve exactly what you need — an easy and convenient way for readers to subscribe to a blog, news site, or other online content. To avoid having to check a website repeatedly for new content, an RSS feed will produce an alert whenever new material is published. You need only install or activate RSS reader software, usually called a “feed reader” or “news aggregator.” Feed readers are numerous and almost always free.
Hope this helps.
Hello, I really like your blog. Is there some thing I can do to obtain updates like a subscription or something? I’m sorry I’m not familiar with RSS?
Aly, Thanks for your meaningful insights. You seem to be suggesting that we could (and maybe should) do some editing to the list of quesitons I offered for consideration. Based on your input, I did just that. I am curious about what you and others think. Here’s the revised list:
• Does the content of the curriculum address 21st Century benchmarks for essential student learning outcomes?
• Are the co-curricular program offerings inclusive and strategically designed to extend learning and engagement outside of class?
• Does the campus climate inspire students to be fully engaged with the curricular and co-curricular program offerings and contribute to the learning and social environment, on campus, locally, nationally and globally?
• Does learning actually accrue, as a result of that student engagement?
Thank you, Jamie, for creating a space for this important conversation. You (and Aly) have identified issues around which we need critical conversation. In a time when expanding access to postsecondary education has never been more crucial, our challenges have never been greater. I look forward to returning to this blog and engaging with other scholars and practitioners who understand that access is not the antithesis of quality within higher education, and who are working to advance knowledge and to provide practical solutions. Again, my thanks to you for initiating this conversation.
I am so pleased to read that there is a forum where people who care about access, quality education and graduation rates can come together to discuss and share resources. I am proud to share that the California State University System and the University of North Carolina System (both of which are homes to my respective alma maters [CSU, Chico and UNC-Chapel Hill) are working to open doors to students, retain students and successfully matriculate students. These initiatives include a commitment to student engagement and involvement–both of which serve to create a social support network for students as well as to help them identify with the broader college or university community. I also would argue that these out-of-classroom experiences should be a foundation for a 21st century education and be assessed as a measure of quality for any institution of higher education. I am not stating anything new or original here when I reiterate how important it is to create learning climates where students are welcomed, invited to become active members of the community and expected to contribute to the learning and social (campus, local, national, global) environment in meaningful ways. Institutionally-supported programs that formalize student involvement (clubs, organizations, service, student resource centers, study abroad, internships, etc.) are critical partners in inspiring students to matriculate. What happens when students are both involved and graduate? They become committed alums, authentic leaders and better citizens. Yet there is so much to be done and a continued commitment to fund initiatives like those taking place in the CSU and the UNC systems must remain in place (and grow). We all know that a quality education is truly equalizing and is essential to a strong democracy. I would invite colleges and universities to invest resources in creating and maintaining climates of engagement and co-curricular learning. My experience has formed my perspective in that these opportunities significantly contribute to student success as well as serve to create avenues of understanding and empowerment for individuals and communities—both of which are incredibly important (when times are good or bad)—and they help students graduate.