The context

Just a few decades ago, post-secondary institutions operated virtually unchallenged. Increasing costs were not questioned and institutions expressed little concern over the wants and needs of their students. Today, the focus has shifted to students as "customers" and a wide variety of parties interested in access, affordability, and accountability.

Is higher education in the midst of a revolution, or is the world merely experiencing a seismic adjustment? What is driving this change? And where is this discussion about assessment and learning outcomes headed?

"Every generation wants to believe that the crises and challenges of their generation will transform the world. No one knows if they are at a watershed until the watershed is history," says John Lombardi, chancellor and professor of history at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

There have been moments in the history of U.S. higher education, Lombardi adds, that were expected to change the world in dramatic ways; events like the land grant phenomenon of the late 19th Century, the GI Bill, and the decade of the 1960s that ushered in student revolution. In the end, most institutions have changed primarily in response to available revenue and the needs of their various constituencies. And while they have responded to those demands for change in subtle ways, most institutions, conservative by nature, have resisted changing their core values or structures.

However gradually, higher education appears to be shifting its focus from reputation and prestige to performance, and for a variety of reasons.

"While reputation and prestige (i.e., exclusiveness) will always be an important differentiator for certain schools, there is intense competition in higher education for students, and this competition drives the need for differentiation," says Doug Kelsall, president and COO of eCollege. "Performance and learning outcomes are one way for schools to differentiate themselves in a competitive environment."

Another driver for the increasing focus on performance is the intense competition for access to public funding. As higher education comes under greater scrutiny, legislators and other key constituents are looking for greater accountability and return on their investment. A continued focus on the performance of higher education is one way to justify public investment in higher education.

Nick Allen, provost and chief academic officer of the University of Maryland University College, says another factor driving the focus on performance is society's need for increasing numbers of students to have access to a post-secondary education. "The elite academic institutions that were built on reputation for their inputs and selectivity will not disappear. But they will become less and less relevant in terms of providing educational opportunities for society as a whole. They will continue to play an important role in carrying out their research functions, but not for delivery."

While accrediting agencies and regulators will increasingly insist on measuring performance outcomes, Allen says it is incumbent upon higher education institutions to monitor those outcomes to determine the learning rates of their students. "In earlier times, when selectivity was emphasized, the assumption was that if only the few best qualified students were admitted, and if those students put in the required seat time and were exposed to the right faculty, then learning would take place. Higher education in America was built on that premise for the most part. But high access institutions today can no longer afford to make that assumption without measurement, if they want to be quality institutions."

Many of the most prestigious institutions received their status by setting the bar for performance as measured by the reputation of their graduates or helping to drive exacting professional standards in specific fields for which their programs have become synonymous with excellence. Those institutions with prestigious, high reputations will be less likely to focus on measuring performance in new ways, such as learning outcomes. And for those interested in learning outcomes, there is widespread disagreement over what the goals for performance should be. "Different schools and different students are looking for different outcomes from the educational process," says Kelsall. "For some, it is skills for a career. For others, it is a well rounded individual. The 'focus' on performance can get a bit hazy if there is not widespread agreement on the goals, or allowance for different types of goals."

Arthur Lendo, president and professor of management at Peirce College, says the advancement of technology, especially internet mediated distance learning, is contributing to the continued development of a commodity-like marketplace in higher education and that those institutions without large endowments will be forced to focus more on performance.

"Technology is driving both evolutionary and revolutionary changes simultaneously," adds Lendo. "Institutions will respond to the marketplace unevenly. Elite privates and flagship state institutions will be the last sectors to respond based on perceived prestige." He predicts that the rapid creation of new knowledge will likely dictate a faster rate of change in higher education although reactionary forces will continue to dig in their heels.

Dr. Carl Kuttler, President of St. Petersburg College in Florida, notes that we are on a "change treadmill" today, driven by "the changing nature of our students, the rapid evolution of technology in supporting teaching and learning, and, yes, demands from the students and the public for improved performance." He does not see this as a negative, or something institutions should have to be forced to do. "Accountability in the best sense means giving students the skills and tools they need to be successful in a dramatically changing world."

Malcolm Read, executive secretary of the Joint Information Systems Committee in the United Kingdom, says the British government has so far placed less pressure on documented performance measurement. He also believes that measuring the performance outcomes of graduates is complicated.

"Universities are judged by the caliber of their graduates (and their research)," he says. "However, as the caliber of graduates is based on their subsequent performance in the world, this takes time to establish and the perception may lag behind realities, for better or worse. The performance and reputation of graduates determines the perceived value of an institution's degree. A performance table of cost / (immediate) learning outcomes then appears too simplistic."

As the number of institutions, both for-profit and not-for-profit, increases in number, there is more opportunity for performance-centric programs that cater to students interested in job and career opportunities. "Access, choice and opportunity are becoming more and more available to all," adds Bernie Luskin, executive vice president and director of the media studies program at Fielding Graduate University. "The impact on community colleges is a good example of that. It is happening through improved media communication, entrepreneurism, and that the fact that the world is flat."

Kelsall believes the current focus on performance is an outcome of the transition as opposed to its cause. "The major transition which is occurring in education is greater demand, greater access and choice, and thus greater competition for students. Further, the expansion and continued growth of online education has provided students with even greater access and choices, as well as additional delivery mechanisms for schools to reach new markets."