System of Accountability

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A Proposal for A Voluntary
System of Accountability For public higher
education
Muriel A. Howard, Ph.D. President Buffalo State
College
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• Goals
• Respond to concerns raised by the Spellings
  Commission
• Redefine what is important when choosing a
  college
• Make it easy to find this information
• Standardize presentation to ease criticisms about
  comparable information availability
• Add process and outcome measures to what is
  reported

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Presidential Advisory Commission
Core Educational Outcomes Task Force
Student-Family Information Task Force
Campus Engagement Task Force
System Design Task Force
Learning Outcomes Technical Work Group
Student Growth Technical Work Group
2 Associations 82 Participants 110 Monitors 4
Meeting Rounds
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Audience Information
We present this information to aid students and
families, policy makers and the general public
understand higher education. Nearly all the
information presented is included to help
students find the right institution to match
their needs and interests. This is important to
the institution and each student. The items
reported are based on preferences expressed by
many focus groups and the recommendations of
professionals. They are illustrative and do not
capture the richness of student experiences at
our institutions or the breadth and depth of
student learning that occurs.
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The Standard Reporting Template has 5 pages
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Each VSA participating college and university
will develop its own images and content for the
banner on the first page of the VSA reporting
template. The template is referred to as the
College Portrait.
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Standard IPEDS terminology was used for race and
ethnicity reporting. International is used to
replace the Non-resident alien category.
Data source Common Data Set
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Student Clearinghouse data is sufficiently robust
from 2000 forward to reliably report continuing
enrollments and graduations for students once
enrolled at your institution. This success and
progress rate better explains college attendance
and achievement patterns.
Data sources IPEDS Student Clearinghouse
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The published price for tuition and fees is a
barrier for first generation students and
families. VSA requires making on-line information
available to help families estimate their real
costs. VSA is having the University of Texas
System develop a plug and play net price
estimator that VSA participants may use. Use of
this, or an institutions own calculator is
required.
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Without reinventing the wheel, VSA has taken
already available information and packaged it so
it can be found in the same format from one
campus to another. This will go a long way to
addressing the complaint about lack of comparable
information.
Data source Common Data Set
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Data source Common Data Set
The experiences each institution has to offer
differ in important ways. This page is meant to
highlight aspects of the campus that will give
prospective students a richer sense of the
opportunities available. Each of the 9 buttons
are to be defined at an institutions option.
There is also a space to briefly describe campus
safety programs.
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Parents and policy makers want to know what
happens to students after they graduate.
Unfortunately no nationally defined data source
is available to answer that question.
In lieu of that information, VSA requires
administration of a single survey question about
future plans of graduates.
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Student Experiences Perceptions
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Student Engagement Survey Options
VSA requires administration of one of the
following instruments once in every three years.
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Learning Outcomes
A single measure is an inadequate description of
the learning outcomes at any campus. Not
measuring and reporting any learning outcomes is
a failure of our duty of public accountability.
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Learning Outcomes Test Options
VSA requires administration of one of the
following instruments once in every three years.
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Reporting Learning Outcomes
Learning Gains Between Freshman Year and Senior
Year Critical Thinking The increase in learning
for critical thinking was ltwhat would be
expectedgt at an institution with students of
similar academic abilities. Written
Communication The increase in learning for
written communication was ltwhat would be
expectedgt at an institution with students of
similar academic abilities.
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Links
Throughout the College Portrait template you will
see "More" links. Each institution's may provide
additional information on its own web pages to
supplement the information contained in the
College Portrait template.
Throughout the template are several "Click Here"
links. Each institution is required to provide
the additional information on its own web pages.
   
   
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VSA Reporting Schedule
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A Net Cost Estimator
A VSA Net Cost Estimator is available to
participating institutions
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College Portrait Report Page Generator
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Learning Outcomes Sample Sizes

• In performing their ordinary validation work for
  a testing instrument, the vendors of those tests
  have developed their own guidelines/recommendation
  s for institutional sample size.
• VSA is relying on these test-maker recommended
  sample sizes for administration of the learning
  outcomes tests.
• The sample size for the three instruments ranges
  from 100 to 200 randomly selected students for an
  institutional level measure.

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Participation

• Participation fees
• AASCU and NASULGC Members fees waived.
• Non-members may participate for a small fee.
• Out of Pocket Costs
• Student Clearinghouse Data Access Fees
• Student Engagement Survey Costs
• Learning Outcomes Testing Costs

• Benefits - Access to and Use of
• College Portrait Generator
• VSA Net Price Estimator

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What you can do at your institution

• Choose to participate in the VSA
• Explain the institutional level focus of the VSA
• Point out that this complements but does not
  replace other assessment and improvement measures
• Let the public and the policy makers in your
  service area know about VSA