Accreditation, Accountability, and Control

Many of us were surprised last month when the U.S. House Committee stripped language from its version of the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act that would have given final authority for institutional student outcomes to the institutions. What some of us suspected seems to be confirmed in this Chronicle of Higher Education's story. The language in the House version would have given final and full authority for establishing student learning outcomes to the institution. The accrediting agencies, and in particular the program accreditors, wanted some say in student learning outcomes. Stripping the language gives time to the accrediting agencies and the institutions to work out a compromise so that the language in the law does not become too restrictive to either side.

The Dog Days

It's that time again, "the Dog Days of Summer." I don't know where that phrase came from, but I remember it from my childhood as a way to describe the long, languishing, hot days when dogs would lie on their backs in the middle of the lawn and doze away the day. Otherwise known as August. In the capitol city we are anticipating the hiatus that will come when Congress finally succumbs to the pressure to get out of town with work either done, partly done, or undone. The city will languish and those of us still here will dress down and saunter to work. So, as we approach the lax month, where are we?


Its hard to say where we are, as most of the key legislation for education has moved forward in one body of Congress, but not in the other. For instance, the House is busy moving forward on ther reauthorization of NCLB, but the Senate has yet to act. The Senate has passed its version of the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, but the House has yet to act. In the Senate version there is more money for students in the financial aid package, and there is a clarification of accrediation rules. On the latter, institutions are responsible for establishing what student success looks like in relation to their mission, and the accrediting agencies need to monitor that. Also, the institutions must be clear about their policies for transfer of credit from other institutions. The heavy hand of control has been reduced to the appropriate role of oversight. While this looks good, we need to wait to see what the House does.

The pressure, of course, is to try to get both the major pieces of education legislation, reauthorization of NCLB and HEA, passed before the end of the Congressional year. Much good work has gone into the reauthorization process, but if it is not passed and becomes law, we will have another continuing resolution, which leaves the old law in place.

The same is true for funding humanities issues. The House has passed its version with an increase for NEH and funding for Archives and Public Records. The Senate HELP committee has passed increased funding, but the full Senate has not voted, yet. Here is the full update from the National Humanities Alliance.

The good news is that both bodies are working to move legislation forward, and they feel the heat of summer's breath on their necks. With that, we hope the dog days of summer will provide the respite and lassitude to prepare us for the needed burst of energy to make the fall productive.

FY08 Budget

For those of you who haven’t seen it, here is the Chronicle of Higher Education’s chart of President Bush’s FY08 budget plan as it affects higher education. Now the real work will begin as Congress will decide what to shift where, what to save, what to enhance--in short, what to fund.

Most of the FY07 spending that was not approved by both houses and signed into law before the election will be extended on a Continuing Resolution. The House has passed its version, and the Senate is expected to follow suit. Essentially, it leaves in place the spending levels of the FY06 budget for FY07. This isn’t an election year, so we can hope that Congress will work to pass the necessary allocations for FY08 before the year is out.

Very shortly the NCTE EC will approve its legislative platform for the year. Our next step is to work for NCTE advocacy either through your work with your legislators in your home district, or come to Washington for the NCTE Advocacy Day activities April 26th. Or, better yet, both. Click here for the Education Policy and English Language Arts Day information.

Pell Increase?

Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings has announced that President Bush will request a signficant increase in the Pell grants for the FY08 budget, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education's special report. The 14% increase will raise the grant to $550. As the story mentions, no one is talking about where this money will come from, but the federal budget will be released February 8. We may even know before then as more details of the budget become available over the next week.

While it is all political at this point, with one party trying to trump the other, what is obvious is that the Commission on the Future of Higher Education's Report is having an effect. Both Congress and the President have moved on the affordability issue by asking for an increase in the Pell grant. The Department of Education has been pushing for change on accountability and accreditation that the accrediting groups are taking seriously.

Where does this lead? We will have to see. After all, this is the political year of posturing before the political year of campaigning.

HEA Rauthorization

It looks like Congress will follow the time-honored process of deciding not to decide on the Higher Education Act Re-authorization. No news is no news.