5.2: Objective 5.2
Strengthen accountability of postsecondary institutions Other Information:
Although American institutions of higher education are among the best in the world, the public and many policymakers are especially
concerned about the effectiveness of postsecondary institutions in two areas: preparing high-quality teachers and completing
the education of students within a reasonable time. An effective strategy for ensuring that institutions are held accountable
for results is to make information on student achievement and attainment available to the public. This way, prospective students
will be able to make informed choices about where to attend college and how to spend their tuition dollars. Addressing widespread
concern about the quality of new teachers, Congress established an accountability system for teacher preparation programs
in Title II when reauthorizing the Higher Education Act (HEA) in 1998. This system provides for the first time basic information
on the quality of teacher program completers. Public and Congressional critics of this system note, however, that it needs
to be strengthened to produce information that is more useful to the public and policymakers. As part of the next reauthorization
of HEA, the Department will recommend refinements to this system. Congress also has addressed concerns about the effectiveness
of postsecondary institutions in graduating students in a timely fashion. In amendments to the HEA in 1992, Congress required
institutions of higher education to report the proportions of their students who complete their educational programs. Critics
have pointed out that these measures are not effectively integrated into accountability systems in most states, and thus are
not routinely used in evaluating postsecondary institutions. In the next reauthorization, the Department will recommend steps
to strengthen the usefulness of these measures so that they can be incorporated into state accountability systems. Successfully
meeting this objective will require the cooperation of the postsecondary community, the states and Congress.
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