From a member of this new organization’s board of directors…
A few years ago I heard the president of one of our finest research universities say, “Great universities measure what they value.”
He was emphasizing a commitment to ambitious goals and rigorous self-discipline, while describing the metrics he planned to use to monitor progress toward the aspirations of his institution to become even greater in national and international stature.
I have no doubt he personally, and also his faculty and administrative leaders, deeply value student learning. But the metrics they employed emphasized research grants, faculty memberships in prestigious societies, citations, publications, etc. The systematic assessment of student learning was not visible in the metrics assembled to monitor progress toward their goals. We tend to take student learning for granted.
Perhaps it is not yet a consensus, but I believe there is a growing conviction within American higher education that all students need to learn more, and more of our students need to achieve high levels of knowledge and skill in order to realize their potential for productive lives in the 21st century. We value student learning. We are likely to expand what students know and can do if we set clear goals and take account of what they are learning.
These views and this conviction are being promulgated by the New Leadership Alliance for Student Learning and Accountability. I have joined the board of this organization, and I invite you to visit its website, www.newleadershipalliance.org, in order to learn more about the movement it hopes to foster.
I hope you will take a moment to review the website. I will be grateful in the coming months and years for your counsel and your participation in these efforts to advance both the depth and breadth of learning among students attending our colleges and universities.
With every good wish,
Paul E. Lingenfelter, President
State Higher Education Executive Officers
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