Monday, February 16, 2009

Two Depressing Stories

by Andrew Gillen

From Inside Higher Ed
financial aid officers were baffled by the department’s desire to get rid of a program that does not cost the federal government a dime, saves colleges and students time and effort, and provides data-driven guidance for how the government might improve its methods of delivering financial aid.

From The Chronicle of Higher Education
Having insisted that institution-level results be incomparable, and thus of little value, the SUNY institutions proceeded to argue that the results shouldn't be reported to state officials, on the grounds that they were incomparable, and thus of little value. Plus, you never know when someone might start asking rude questions. "Stop gathering the numbers at a central place where they are potentially vulnerable to a freedom-of-information request," pleaded one institution. And so New York's short, doomed experiment in publicly reporting how much college students learn effectively came to an end.

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