WASHINGTON — While declining public support and tight budgets may be forcing U.S. higher education institutions to grade themselves on how well they perform, a significant part of the accountability challenge remains rooted in how schools define their institutional missions, a higher education accountability activist said Tuesday at an American Enterprise Institute (AEI) conference.

“We can look at metrics and try to figure out what’s happening in higher education but we need to ask what is our purpose and go about developing a curriculum that will produce the graduate you decide you want to have,” Anne Neal of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni said during the AEI “Increasing Accountability in American Higher Education” conference. “So much of this debate is missing that piece.”

Revisiting the higher education policy focus, as well as the unfinished work, of the George W. Bush administration, conference panelists questioned standards in financial management, accreditation and the professoriate, proposing, in some cases, radical ways for the academy to re-engineer its procedures and processes. No prevailing consensus emerged among discussants about how re-engineering or reforms, such as those arising from comprehensive ranking practices, standardized testing or eliminating tenure, could improve institutional accountability.

Instead, the discussions, echoing Neal’s concern, turned frequently to fundamental questions about the role and responsibility of U.S. higher education.    

On assessment measures, Stan Jones, president of the National Consortium for College Completion and former Indiana legislator, said institutions often refer to their fundraising efforts as a measure of success instead of focusing on their graduation rates or successful student outcomes. Likewise, he said, students have the right to know the likely outcomes and value of the learning they receive.