Centering Learning and Serving Students
Main Themes:
- Student-centric approach: The current higher education system often prioritizes administrative processes and metrics over student needs and learning outcomes.
- Accountability through SLO assessment: Student Learning Outcomes (SLO) assessment is crucial for ensuring students gain real-world skills and knowledge, yet it remains underfunded and underutilized.
- Empowering faculty: Faculty are key drivers of student success but require adequate resources and institutional support to focus on learning.
- Redefining success: Institutions need to shift their focus from attendance and completion to actual learning outcomes as the primary measure of success.
Key Ideas & Facts:
- The current system can be a barrier for non-traditional students, with complicated processes, long wait times, and financial hurdles.
"Imagine this scenario: a student loses a job right before the holidays and turns to a community college for help, only to discover they can’t meet with a counselor until mid-January."
- Institutions often measure attendance, persistence, and completion, but these metrics don't necessarily reflect the quality of education or student learning.
"Yet, while institutions measure attendance, persistence, and completion, they rarely measure what truly matters: learning."
- SLO assessment is crucial for accountability and ensuring students develop valuable skills, yet it lacks sufficient funding.
"If we want to transform this system, funding for SLO assessment is non-negotiable."
- Faculty play a critical role in student learning but face constraints due to limited resources and institutional support.
"Faculty must be empowered—not just through funding but through institutional commitment—to make learning the central focus of everything we do."
- Institutions need to prioritize learning outcomes as the primary measure of success, reflecting the true purpose of higher education.
"Students don’t attend college to sit in a classroom; they come to acquire skills, gain knowledge, and change their lives."
Call to Action:
The briefing document advocates for a paradigm shift in higher education, calling for:
- Increased funding for SLO assessment to ensure accountability and focus on learning outcomes.
- Stronger institutional support for faculty, providing them with the resources and autonomy to prioritize student learning.
- A fundamental shift in how success is measured, moving beyond attendance and completion to focus on demonstrable learning outcomes.
By implementing these changes, higher education can rebuild trust and ensure that every student's journey leads to meaningful success. The focus must be on serving the students and empowering them with the knowledge and skills they need to thrive.
