Beginning with the earliest efforts to regulate schools, the author reveals the rationale behind accountability and outlines the historical development of how US federal and state policies, accreditation practices, private-sector interests, and internal requirements have become so important to institutional success and survival

The first comprehensive overview charting the accountability of higher education. As the price tag of higher education continues to rise, colleges and universities across the country are under increasing pressure to demonstrate their value. Graded on numerous metrics, including cost and ability to prepare students for the job market, colleges must satisfy requirements from multiple stakeholders. State and federal governments demand greater accountability. Foundations and private donors, as well as today's parents and students, approach education with a consumer sensibility. How can colleges navigate these pressures while trying to stay true to their missions and values? In Higher Education Accountability, Robert Kelchen delivers the first comprehensive overview of how colleges in the United States came to face such overwhelming scrutiny. Beginning with the earliest efforts to regulate schools, Kelchen reveals the rationale behind accountability and outlines the historical development of how federal and state policies, accreditation practices, private-sector interests, and internal requirements have become so important to institutional success and survival. With so many diverse and conflicting entities holding colleges responsible for their performance, the variety of accountability systems in play can have both intended and unintended consequences. Immersed as they are in current debates about how best to respond to these pressures, faculty and administrators will welcome this up-to-date and timely account, which offers not only a look at current practices but also an examination of the future of accountability in American higher education.

In Accountability in American Higher Education prominent academics, entrepreneurs, and journalists assess the obstacles to, and potential opportunities for, accountability in higher education in America. Providing analysis that can be used to engage institutions of higher education in the difficult but necessary conversation of accountability.

With contributions from leading experts in the field, this comprehensive and timely book presents the principles and guidelines for effective accountability for states, colleges, and universities. Achieving Accountability in Higher Education clarifies the concept of accountability for both public and private colleges and universities and explores its reaches and limits. The book examines the most recent developments, offers current models for each of the major approaches to accountability, and analyzes their shortcomings.

This book examines current practices in assessment of learning and accountability at a time when accrediting boards, the federal government and state legislatures are requiring higher education to account for such outcomes as student retention, graduation, and learning.

In Accountability and Opportunity in Higher Education, leading scholars address the unforeseen impact of accountability standards on students of color and the institutions that disproportionately serve them. The book describes how federal policies can worsen existing racial inequalities in higher education and offers alternative solutions aimed to protect and advance civil rights for low-income and minority students and their colleges. Written against a backdrop of unequal opportunity and racial inequality in preparation for and access to higher education, Accountability and Opportunity in Higher Education arrives at a pivotal time in American education. "To ensure the American Dream is a reality for all, equity should be at the center of public policy decisions. The authors challenge us to honor our commitment to opportunity in higher education, remind us to remain focused on improving the education of those historically underserved, and provide concrete strategies to better measure the institutions educating these students." --Deborah A. Santiago, cofounder and vice president for policy, Excelencia in Education "Orfield, Hillman, and their brilliant cast of authors make clear that neither opportunity nor civil rights can be advanced without accountability. They offer expert analyses and useful guidance to higher education leaders, faculty, and policy makers. This book is timely and incontestably important." --Shaun R. Harper, Clifford and Betty Allen Professor, University of Southern California Rossier School of Education Gary Orfield is a Distinguished Research Professor of Education, Law, Political Science, and Urban Planning, and cofounder and codirector of the Civil Rights Project, at the University of California, Los Angeles. Nicholas Hillman is an associate professor of educational leadership and policy analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Contributors Adriana Ruiz Alvarado Dominique J. Baker Daniel Corral Valerie Crespín-Trujillo Kevin Eagan Stella M. Flores Marybeth Gasman Sara Goldrick-Rab Jason Houle Sylvia Hurtado Willie Kirkland Thai-Huy Nguyen Anne-Marie Núñez Toby J. Park Awilda Rodríguez Andrés Castro Samayoa

As higher education becomes a key determinant for economic competitiveness, institutions face increasing pressure to demonstrate their fitness to meet the needs of society and individuals. Blending innovative research with richly contextualised examples this unique Research Handbook provides authoritative insights from around the globe on how best to understand, assess and improve quality, performance and accountability in higher education.

Affordability, access, and accountability have long been among the central challenges facing higher education—and they remain so today. Here, Donald E. Heller and other higher education scholars and practitioners explore the current debates surrounding these key issues. As students and their families struggle to meet rising tuition prices, and as state funding for higher education dwindles, policymakers confront issues of affordability within state and institutional budgets. Changing demographics and challenges to affirmative action complicate the admissions process even as colleges and universities seek to diversify enrollments. And issues of institutional accountability have forced the restructuring of higher education governing boards and a reexamination of the role of public trustees in governance. This collection analyzes how issues of affordability, access, and accountability influence the way in which state governments approach, monitor, and set public higher education policy. The contributors examine the latest research on pressing challenges, explore how states are coping with these challenges, and consider what the future holds for public postsecondary education in the United States.

Originally published in 1979 Accountability in Higher Education contains the first comprehensive analysis of accountability in Australian higher education. The contributors systematically examine organisation and practice in the Australian higher education system, major issues relating to the accountability movement, and possible future developments arising from these issues. The authors look in turn at the various levels of organisation and accountability within the higher education system – Federal, State, sector, institution and individual – and in so doing provide the most comprehensive coverage possible of the major issues of concern. The book provides a detailed analysis that will be of particular interest to teachers, administrators and educational researchers.

This book considers how a culture of ‘competitive accountability’ in UK higher education produces multiple tensions, contradictions and paradoxes that are destabilizing and deleterious to the work and identities of academics as research scientists. It suggests the potential of a new discourse of scientific accountability, that frees scientists and their public communities from the absurdities and profligacy of ‘performativity’ and ‘managerial governmentality’ encountered in the REF and an impact agenda – the noose of competitive accountability – and a more honest and meaningful public contract.