Miller lets fly at private colleges

Charles Miller, who chaired U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings' blue-ribbon Commission on the Future of Higher Education, took a >roundhouse swing at private colleges and universities in a "private" cover letter when he submitted the commission's report. The letter, which "was not part of the official document posted on the Education Department’s Web site," was obtained by the Chronicle of Higher Education and quoted today in the Chronicle's News Blog:

In the letter, Mr. Miller shares what he calls “strictly personal observations,” calling the system of financing higher education “dysfunctional.” He writes that “in addition to the lack of transparency regarding pricing, which severely limits the price signals found in a market-based system, there is a lack of the incentives necessary to affect institutional behavior so as to reward innovation and improvement in productivity. Financial systems of higher education instead focus on and reward increasing revenues—a top line structure with no real bottom line.”

In keeping with previous comments he has made, Mr. Miller singled out private colleges for the most criticism, writing that they resist being held accountable, as shown by their opposition to a unit-record system to track students. “What elevates this concern,” he writes, “is the fact that so-called ‘private’ colleges and universities receive a large amount of support from the public, that is, the taxpayer.”

Overall, the report's final version was little changed from the draft approved and released to the public in August. An article headed "Plan would hold colleges accountable for students' learning" in the Sept. 27 Detroit Free-Press by William Douglas of the McClatchy newspaper group details the implications for assessment a little better than most of the press coverage. Douglas writes:

WASHINGTON -- Looking to extend its education policies into colleges and universities, the Bush administration outlined proposals Tuesday that some higher-education officials fear will lead to standardized testing and trample on students' privacy.

Education Secretary Margaret Spellings said sweeping changes were needed to make higher education more affordable and accountable to people who spend tens of thousands of dollars a year to pursue college degrees.

In a speech at the National Press Club, she laid out proposals developed by the Commission on the Future of U.S. Higher Education, which she appointed a year ago. They'd extend to colleges the principles from the No Child Left Behind program, which seeks greater accountability from elementary schools by requiring them to give standardized tests and publicize the results.

"It seems to me there is an encroachment here to substitute the judgment on higher-education matters that ought to be made by presidents and faculty rather than legislators and commissions," said David Warren, president of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. "There is an ever-increasing reach into the academy."

Warren's concern about the tone of the Miller commission report, by the way, has been consistent. It may help explain Miller's blast at private colleges and universities.

Spellings touts NCLB for higher ed?

Nothing on the Google News site about the U.S. Education Department's hearings on using the Department's rule-making authority to force changes in higher education. Figures. The commercial media have shied away from the issue almost a year now. But an article in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on a speech and school visit by Education Secretary Margaret Spellings hints at a higher ed version of No Child Left Behind.

Here's the lede of a story by the Post-Gazette's Eleanor Chute:

Federal officials are taking the No Child Left Behind Act to the next frontier -- higher education.

In Pittsburgh yesterday, U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings said she will be making a policy speech about higher education at the end of this month.

She noted the federal government pays about one-third of the bill, in the form of grants, and basically puts "the money out and hopes for the best."

She said, "That was fine and dandy when higher education was kind of nice to have as opposed to must have. But that's changing more and more.

"We need to be more strategic, smarter, and make sure higher education is more accessible to more people if we're going to continue to be the world's innovator and the world's leader."

Ms. Spellings made the remarks before the National Conference of Editorial Writers at the Sheraton Station Square Hotel.

So it's back again. The idea was bandied about earlier by Charles Miller, chair of Spellings' blue-ribbon Commission on the Future of Higher Education. Then it was backburnered, toned down from a mandate to a suggestion in the final draft of the commission's report. Spellings is expected to release the final report Sept. 26.

While Spellings' prepared remarks to the editorial writers don't detail the commission's higher ed recommendations, she mentioned the subject on a visit she made with a Republican congressman to an elementary school in Findlay, Pa. The Post-Gazette reported:

On higher education, Ms. Spellings acknowledged that the $100 increase in federal Pell grants isn't enough and noted that costs have been rising about 7 percent a year.

"The next part of the debate on higher education is for us to ask why does it cost 7 percent more this year than last year. Is it a better deal to get out of Ohio State in six years or some private college in four?

"All sorts of things that parents want to know and deserve to know and can know and find out about buying a car or going to a restaurant or ordering a book online, you can't find out about on one of the most expensive decisions and one of the most important decisions that you and your child are going to make. ...

"I think we have to start challenging that."

Last month, the federal Commission on the Future of Higher Education recommended standardized tests, federal monitoring of quality and changes in the financial aid system.

Chute, the Post-Gazette's reporter, also paraphrased Spellings as saying "that No Child Left Behind is close to perfect, likening it to Ivory soap."

Well, that's one comparison.

Cultural studies: 'text' and other keywords

A link to cultural studies professor T.V. Reed’s pop culture website at Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. It includes, among other things, a link to his American Studies/English 471 course syllabus with a PowerPoint presentation in the first week defining keywords.

Among them: Text: "Any unit of meaning isolated for the purposes of cultural analysis."

Examples include "a single image in one commercial" ranging up to "a whole day of television programs."

Says Reed, "Texts can include words, images, sounds, even touch, in various combinations."

Other definitions include: Myth, ideology, encoding/decoding, subculture, hegemony, gender, race. Looks useful