An Accreditor Goes Deeper on Data
Published Aug 30, 2021
By Doug Lederman
By design, accrediting agencies play a range of roles with the colleges and universities they oversee: partner in institutional improvement, convener of a community of interest around issues of quality, and watchdog deputized by the federal government to ensure the institutions are deserving of federal funds. Those roles sometimes conflict. When accreditors appear to put their improvement mission first, advocates for students sometimes accuse them of going soft. When they prioritize accountability, their own members say they’re overstepping their bounds.
The dashboard is also designed to respond to criticism from federal policymakers and consumer advocates (including this 2019 report from the Institute for Higher Education Policy) that accreditors “repeatedly refer to ‘using’ data in reviews, but there is little evidence that regional accreditors integrate data into the review process or base consequences on data.”
To the extent WSCUC hoped the new dashboard would show that it was serious about institutional accountability, early indications suggest the initiative has succeeded. “We appreciate WASC Senior College and University Commission’s creation of the Key Indicators Dashboard (KID) to harness the power of data,” Mamie Voight, interim president of IHEP, said via email. “Students have much to gain when accreditors bring data to bear on institutional improvement conversations with their campuses. The KID shows disaggregated data, where it is available, which is an important first step toward understanding — and addressing — inequities.”
Read the full article at Inside Higher Ed
