Back in 2005, Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings created a commission to craft a vision for the future of higher education. These days, she’s running her own public-policy consulting firm and serving as a senior adviser to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The Chronicle caught up with her this month.
Q. The commission found that higher education in the United States needs to improve in “dramatic ways,” changing from a system primarily based on reputation to one based on performance. Has this happened?
A. Not enough. What I’m proud of is that it has kick-started the conversation. Initially, there was a lot of blowback. It was controversial, to say the least. I think it hit a nerve and was a wake-up call. Certainly, there has been some activity and some action. I am most impressed and pleased by some in the philanthropic community—Lumina, Gates, others—who really understand what the commission was saying.
But clearly the pace has been too slow. What has really changed is the anxiety people feel about the value proposition—it’s more expensive, they’re less clear about value, can you get a job when you’re done? The economy has restricted. The issues are more acute now than they were then.
Q. Are we doing a better job of measuring student-learning outcomes?
A. A baby-step better. I am encouraged by states beginning to talk about it. The philanthropic community has seeded some important work. There is starting to be some acceptance, fueled by public demand and anxiety about affordability.
Q. Your “action plan” for the commission’s report focused on access, affordability, and accountability. On the issue of access, the commission found that college attendance was limited by inadequate preparation, lack of information about college opportunities, and financial barriers. Is college more accessible today than it was five years ago? What has improved, and which barriers remain?
A. Clearly, we’ve been working on affordability. You can’t deny some progress has been made with the increased Pell Grant, but prices continue to be staggering. High-school preparation continues to be chronically broken—that’s one thing the academy can agree on. They need more money, and kids are not prepared enough when they come out of high school.
Q. You said at the time that there was little to no information on why costs were so high and what students were getting in return. Is there better information out there now?
A. A little bit better—in particular, in cases where states are focused on it. But it’s not terribly powerful yet. But when I think about it, we just celebrated the 25th anniversary of “A Nation at Risk.” It took time for that thinking to take hold, and we’re still working on it. I feel proud that the commission brought some attention to it. Are we there yet? Hell no.
Q. You also said that no current ranking system of colleges and universities directly measured the most critical point, student performance and learning. How much data do we have now and how useful is it to consumers and policy makers?
A. That’s the weakest area. Though obviously the Voluntary System of Accountability has several hundred institutions. From the institutional level, not much progress has been made. I do think people are more tuned in to why the defensiveness, what’s the problem, what are we afraid of? But what we do know is not terribly flattering.
Q. The commission titled its report “A Test of Leadership.” If the last five years were a test of leadership, what grade would you give colleges?
A. Incomplete.
Q. Did the commission achieve what you’d hoped, and what is its legacy?
A. Clearly, I wish that we had done more faster. The chief legacy is raising the issues, putting the elephant on the table and gaining additional allies for the cause. It was kind of lonely out there five years ago.
To the extent there is policy movement, it’s happening at the state level. We don’t have the luxury of lush resources. We have to do more with less, so the silver lining of the scarce-resource cloud is that it may cause people to have to do something different.
It’s not enough to rest on your laurels and your reputation any longer. And I think that sort of thinking has been precipitated by the commission and the aftermath of the commission.
