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ACTA Policy Director to Testify before Joint Committee on Governance in Texas
(AUSTIN, TX- September 21, 2011) -- American Council of Trustees and Alumni Vice President of Policy Michael Poliakoff will address a bipartisan committee of Texas state legislators at 11:00 am EDT (10:00 am CDT) on Wednesday, September 21, 2011, regarding the crucial role that trustees play in ensuring excellence and accountability in higher education. The hearing will be streamed live and broadcast over YouTube and on the Texas State Senate website.
Poliakoff is appearing before the Joint Oversight Committee on Higher Education Governance, Excellence, and Transparency. The committee was formed in May by Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Speaker Joe Straus and is co-chaired by state Sen. Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo) and state Rep. Dan Branch (R-Dallas). Texas has recently been the center of a major debate about higher education reform and the role of trustees.
In written testimony supplied to the Committee, Poliakoff -- formerly Vice President for Academic Affairs at the University of Colorado and Director of Education Programs at the National Endowment for the Humanities -- outlines best practices pursued, inside and outside Texas, to ensure affordable, quality education.
"It is on the governing board that accountability to the citizens of the state ultimately rests," Poliakoff said. "And more than ever before, the public is demanding greater accountability."
Quoting former Yale University president and Chairman of the City University of New York Board of Trustees Benno Schmidt, Poliakoff wrote that "Change in institutional strategy can only come from trustees."
Highlights of the testimony include:
The Need for Academic Program Prioritization
- The competing claims of academic departments and personal interest make program prioritization an immensely difficult undertaking. But substantive reform can occur when boards engage in rigorous review and make tough, though necessary, decisions.
- Within the last year, the Louisiana Board of Regents reviewed every academic program and approved the termination of 109 programs, consolidation of 17, and combination consolidation/termination of 172 programs.
Efficient Use of Capital Assets
- Since 1970, the average assignable space per student appears to have tripled; and campus building and tuition fees have ballooned alongside it. Many institutions vastly underutilize the space available.
- Governing boards and coordinating boards can step in to control unnecessary building.
Multiple Metrics to Gauge Student Learning and Weigh Educational Quality Against Competing Academic Priorities
- It is imperative that governing boards receive and analyze information on student learning gains, along with other academic outcome measures, and that the data be used actively in academic policy decisions.
- Beginning in 1998, the South Dakota Board of Regents embraced the Collegiate Assessment of Academic
Progress (CAAP) and several of its schools have made significant curriculum changes in response to CAAP deficiencies.
- Iowa State developed a Position Responsibility Statement (PRS) for each professor in consultation with the department chair and dean that adjusts expectations for teaching, research, and service to the needs of the university -- and the skills of the professor. Iowa State recognizes that it is simply not effective to assume there is one "standard" allocation of faculty time.
- As tuition costs escalate, it is the fiduciary duty of a governing board to weigh competing academic priorities.
Poliakoff praised Texas for leading the way in transparency issues. For example, Poliakoff wrote that most Texas public institutions voluntarily post data online on the Voluntary System of Accountability College Portrait site. Poliakoff cited Texas for its outstanding core curriculum, praising the legislature for its commitment to an efficient and coherent education, and urging taxpayers and policymakers to be vigilant in ensuring colleges and universities in Texas continue to offer students "a far more coherent educational framework than most institutions around the country."
ACTA has previously published a report about the academic situation within the Big 12. That report is available for free online.
The American Council of Trustees and Alumni is an independent, nonprofit organization committed to academic freedom, excellence and accountability at America’s colleges and universities.
Posted by dburnett on September 21, 2011 at September 21, 2011 03:59 PM
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