March 20, 2007

Who’s Who at the Spellings Summit

For weeks, mystery has swirled around who will have a seat at the table(s) this week when Margaret Spellings convenes her higher education “summit,” which is designed to help set the course for how the Education Department moves forward in carrying out the recommendations of the education secretary’s Commission on the Future of Higher Education.

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The various conspiracy theories were fed in part by the fact that requests to see the list, from participants and interested reporters alike, were turned away in recent weeks. But department officials insisted that the delays had occurred because they were striving to balance and satisfy the hundreds of nominations and suggestions that college groups and others had submitted for the maximum 300 slots, and to make the final group representative not only of higher education itself but of the many other constituents with an interest and stake in it.

The list that department officials provided late Monday is probably unlikely to satisfy everyone (could any such list?), but it’s hard at first glance to find any group that would have a serious gripe about being shut out. Sure, there aren’t a lot of individual professors (three by this reporter’s count, excluding policy experts who focus on higher education), but major faculty unions are represented. It’s hard to find a significant sector of higher education not represented (heck, there are even two officials from rabbinical colleges).

And all of higher education’s major Washington lobbying groups will have a voice in the discussion — remarkably enough, even the invitation to David L. Warren of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, who was the Spellings Commission’s most vocal and persistent critic throughout the course of its deliberations, did not get lost in the mail.

“We feel that the process we used to create the invitation list was eminently defensible,” said Jason Dean, who as a senior counselor to Under Secretary Sara Martinez Tucker played a key role in planning this week’s summit. “We tried to reach out to as many communities as we could, and hopefully our registration list is a reflection of that. I can’t tell you how many times we tried to get the invite list right. But I’d be naive to think that everybody’s going to be happy.”

So who’s coming?

Ten of the Spellings Commission’s 19 members will be there (all were invited), including, of course, now Under Secretary Tucker, as well as Charles Miller, the panel’s outspoken chairman, and David Ward, who as president of the American Council on Education was the sole member of the commission not to sign its final report.

The federal government is well represented, with 16 Congressional aides joined by 18 officials from various offices in the Education Department, not including those organizing and leading the conference. But befitting the reality that there is much more to be done at the state level than at the federal level, there are many more state officials of various stripes, including one governor, Donald Carcieri of Rhode Island, several state legislators, and numerous heads of state higher education coordinating boards and university systems.

Twelve accreditors will be there, as will 49 college presidents, from a wide range of institutions: public four-years like the University of Massachusetts system and the University of Maryland Baltimore County, community colleges (including Dyersburg State Community College and Portland Community College), historically black institutions such as Grambling State University, and four-year private institutions like Alverno College and Pacific Lutheran University. All 12 presidents who accompanied Spellings on her trip to Asia last fall were invited.

Most of the major players in standardized testing will be there, as will a wide array of higher education researchers and policy wonks. The corporate sector is represented by companies as diverse as Bison Gear and Engineering Corp. and Sungard Higher Education. (A full list of the attendees and their affiliations appears below.)

What will they be doing?

The summit, which will be held Thursday at the Willard Hotel in Washington, (an agenda can be found here ) will be framed around a set of 25 initial recommendations drawn from reports by five “working groups” that department officials formed on specific subjects: aligning K-12 and college curriculums and requirements; increasing need-based student aid; using accreditation to measure student-learning outcomes; serving adults and other nontraditional students; and making information about college costs more transparent and available to the public. (Department officials do not plan to release those reports or the 25 recommendations until Thursday morning, but here is the document produced by the working group on accreditation, to provide a sense of how broadly framed the recommendations are.)

Thursday’s meeting will begin with reports from the five working groups, and then the participants will break into one of five larger groups to refine, add to or subtract from the original lists of recommendations, which Dean called “conversation beginners.” After a luncheon speech by Spellings, the participants will divide up again into five groups with the goal of identifying specific tasks that need to be done to achieve the recommendations, and which players – federal or state government, college officials, foundations, etc. — should be responsible for them.

By late afternoon, facilitators from the five groups will present to the entire assemblage on their conclusions, and the day is designed with end with a session aimed at identifying “the nation’s action plan and next steps,” as the agenda describes it.

In June, the department plans to hold a series of five regional mini-summits (in Atlanta, Boston, Kansas City, Phoenix and Seattle) that are designed to (1) sustain whatever momentum emerges from Thursday’s meeting, (2) solicit more advice and involvement from people who were unable to attend the Washington meeting, notably students and others for whom travel was impossible, and (3) explore whether and how the issues and problems are playing out differently at a local or regional rather than national level.

Exactly how much say the nearly 300 attendees at Thursday’s meeting will have in shaping the department’s ideas going forward, and how easy or difficult it will be to reach any sort of consensus in a group that big are two of the questions that will make the day potentially interesting, if messy.

The full list of those planning to attend Thursday’s meeting follows:

Lois Adams-Rodgers	Council of Chief State School Officers	Deputy Executive Director
Susan Aldridge	U. of Maryland University College	President
King Alexander	California State U. at Long Beach	President
Frank Alvarez	TMC HealthCare	President & CEO
Loren Anderson	Pacific Lutheran U.	President
Arthur Anthonisen	Orange County Community College	Trustee
Theresa Antworth	Fla. Dept. of Education	Director, State Scholarships and Grants
James Applegate	Ky. Council on Postsecondary Education	Vice President for Academic Affairs
Bart Astor	National Association of State Student Aid and Grant Programs	Director, Washington Office
Wendy Ault	MELMAC Education Foundation	Executive Director
Guy Bailey	U. of Missouri at Kansas City	Chancellor
Thomas Bailey	Community College Research Center, Columbia U. Teachers College	Director
Kristin Bannerman	U.S. Dept. of Education	Deputy Assistant Secretary of Congressional Affairs
Diane Barrans	Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education	Executive Director
Sandy Baum	The College Board	Senior PolicyAnalyst
Julie Bell	National Conference of State Legislatures	Education Program Director
Roger Benjamin	Council for Aid to Education	President
Thomas Bennett	Parkland College	Trustee
Barbara Beno	Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, Western Assn. of Schools and Colleges	President of ACCJC
Andrew Benton	Pepperdine U.	President
Julia Benz	Ohio State U.	Director, Student Financial Aid
Robert Berdahl	Assn. of American Universities	President
David Bergeron	U.S. Dept. of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education	Director, Policy and Budget Development Staff
Carrie Besnette	Metropolitan State College of Denver	Vice President and Foundation Executive Director
Ronald Blumenthal	Kaplan Higher Education	Senior Vice President
Victor Boschini Jr.	Texas Christian U.	Chancellor
Karen Bowyer	Dyersburg State Community College	President
James Boyle	College Parents of America	President
Kitty Boyle	Assn. of Community College Trustees	Chair
Kathleen Boyle Dalen	Partnership for Regional Education Preparation-KC	Associate Director
Adam Briddell	U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee	Staff
Kerri Briggs	U.S. Dept. of Education	Acting Assistant Secretary, OESE
Barbara Brittingham	New England Assn. of Schools & Colleges	Director, CIHE
Steven Brooks	N.C. State Education Assistance Authority	Executive Director
J. Noah Brown	Assn. of Community College Trustees	President and CEO
Jonathan Brown	Assn. of Independent California Colleges and Universities	President
Beth Buehlmann	Senate HELP Committee	Staff
Ronald Bullock	Bison Gear & Engineering Corp.	Chairman & CEO
Ken Burke	St. Petersburg College	ACCT Immediate Past-Chair
Patrick Callan	National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education	President
Rebecca Campoverde	Kaplan, Inc.	Vice President, Government Relations
Nancy Cantor	Syracuse U.	Chancellor and President
Donald Carcieri	State of Rhode Island	Governor
Kevin Carey	Education Sector	Research and Policy Manager
Max Castillo	U. of Houston-Downtown	President
Daniel Chambliss	Hamilton College	Tobin Distinguished Professor of Sociology
Sally Clausen	U. of Louisiana System	President
David Cleary	U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander	Staff Director
Michael Cohen	Achieve, Inc.	President
Ann Coles	The Education Resources Institute	Sr. Vice President, College Access Programs
George Conant	California State U.	Legislative Director
Shari F. Crittendon	United Negro College Fund	VP,General Counsel,Government Affairs & Secretary
Ronald A. Crutcher	Wheaton College	President
Ding-Jo Currie	Coastline Community College	President
Stephen Curtis	Community College of Philadelphia	President
Jason Dalen	Civic Council of Greater Kansas City	Associate Director
Sharon Darling	National Center for Family Literacy	President & Founder
Thomas Dawson	U.S. Dept. of Education Office of Postsecondary Education	Chief of Staff
Philip Day Jr.	City College of San Francisco	Chancellor
John Dean	National College Access Network	Chairman
Robert Dickeson	U. of Northern Colorado	President Emeritus
Kathryn Dodge	N.H. Postsecondary Education Commission	Executive Director
Lawrence Dotolo	Virginia Tidewater Consortium for Higher Education	President
James Duderstadt	U. of Michigan	President Emeritus
Mary Ellen Duncan	Howard Community College	President
Johanna Duncan-Poitier	New York State Education Department	Senior Deputy Commissioner of Education
Gwendolyn Dungy	National Assn. of Student Personnel Administrators	Executive Director
David Dunn	U.S. Department of Education	Chief of Staff
Janet Durfee-Hidalgo	Gov. Donald Carcieri (R.I.)	Education Policy Adviser
Judith Eaton	Council for Higher Education Accreditation	President
John Ebersole	Excelsior College	President
Phyllis Eisen	The Manufacturing Institute/National Assn. of Manufacturing	Vice President
Richard Ekman	Council of Independent Colleges	President
Sandra Elman	Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities	President
Edward Elmendorf	American Assn. of State Colleges and Universities	Sr. Vice President
Bill Evers	U.S. Department of Education	Consultant
Peter Ewell	National Center for Higher Education Management Systems	Vice President
Nancy Farmer	Independent 529 Plan	President
Ricardo R. Fernandez	Lehman College — City U. of New York	President
A. Lee Fritschler	George Mason U.	Professor
Matthew Gandal	Achieve, Inc.	Executive Vice President
Les Garner	Cornell College (Iowa)	President
Mary Gershwin	Center for Workforce Studies, National Assn. of Manufacturers	Senior Fellow
Ronald Gidwitz	GCG Parners	Partner
Scott Giles	Vermont Student Assistance Corporation	Vice President for Policy, Research and Planning
Larry Gold	American Federation of Teachers Higher Education	Director
Gabriella Gomez	U.S. House Education and Labor Committee	Senior Education Policy Adviser
Gerrit Gong	Brigham Young U.	Assistant to the President
William (Bill) Graves	SunGard Higher Education	Senior VP, Academic Strategy
Joanne Greathouse	Joint Review Committee on Education in Radiologic Technology	Chief Executive Officer
Alison Griffin	Chartwell Education Group	Assistant Director
Terrell Halaska	U.S. Department of Education	Assistant Secretary, Legislative and Congresssional Affairs
Eve Hall	Thurgood Marshall College Fund	Vice President of Programs
Matthew Hamill	National Assn. of College and University Business Officers	Senior Vice President
Cynthia Hammond	U.S. Department of Education, Office of Legislative and Congressional Affairs	Legislative Liaison
Judy Hample	Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education	Chancellor
Eric Hanushek	Hoover Institution	Senior Fellow
Mary Jane Harris	Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education	Director
Natala (Tally) Hart	Ohio State U.	Senior Adviser for Economic Access
Sarah Hawker	Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education	Vice President for Adult Education
David Hawkins	National Assn. of College Admission Counseling	Director of Public Policy
Patricia Hayes	U. of Colorado	Chair
Susan Heegaard	Minnesota Office of Higher Education	Director
Erika Heikkila	U.S. Rep. John Boehner	Policy Advisor
Carolyn Henrich	U. Of California	Legislative Director
Richard Hersh	Council for Aid to Education	Co-DirectorCLA
Marc Herzog	Connecticut Community College System	Chancellor
Marshall Hill	Nebraska Coordinating Committee for Postsecondary Education	Executive Director
Nancy Hoffman	Jobs for the Future	Vice President, Youth Transitions
Lucy House	Rep. Ric Keller (R-Fla.)	Legislative Assistant
Freeman Hrabowski	U. of Maryland, Baltimore County	President
Amanda Hughes	U. of Texas System	Coordinator for System Federal Relations
Mary Jacquart	Minnesota State Colleges and Universities	Director State & Federal Government Relations
Kenneth James	Arkansas Department of Education	Commissioner of Education
Bruce D. James	Director, Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges	Commissioner, Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities
Connie Jameson	Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough	Government Relations Consultant
Sally Johnstone	Winona State U.	Vice President
Amy Jones	U.S. House Committee on Education and Labor	Professional Staff
Stan Jones	Indiana Commission for Higher Education	Commissioner
Todd Jones	Assn. of Independent Colleges & Universities of Ohio	President
Horace Judson	Grambling State U.	President
Troy Justesen	U.S. Education Department Office of Vocational and Adult Education	Assistant Secretary
Richard Kazis	Jobs for the Future	Senior Vice President
Cheryl Keenan	U.S. Education Department Office of Vocational and Adult Education	Director, Division of Adult Education and Literacy
Kimberly Kiely	National College Access Network	Associate Director
Cheryl King	National Commission on Adult Literacy	Study Director
William Kirwan	University System of Maryland	Chancellor
Dale Kuehne	Saint Anselm College	Professor
George Kuh	Indiana U. Center for Postsecondary Research	Chancellor’s Professor
Holly Kuzmich	U.S.Department of Education	Deputy Chief of Staff
Hudson LaForce	U.S. Department of Education	Senior Counselor to the Secretary
Michael Lambert	Distance Education and Training Council	Executive Director
Richard Lariviere	University of Kansas	Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor
J.D. LaRock	U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.)	Senior Education Advisor
William Law	Tallahassee Community College	President
Jon Lawniczak	Hispanic Scholarship Fund Institute	Executive Director
Thomas Layzell	Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education	President
Richard Legon	Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges	President
Moira Lenehan-Razzuri	Rep. Rubén Hinojosa	Legislative Assistant
Justin Lepscier	Georgetown University	Student
Valerie Lewis	Connecticut Department of Higher Education	Commissioner
Brett Lief	National Council of Higher Education Loan Programs	President
Paul Lingenfelter	State Higher Education Executive Officers	President
Dane Linn	National Governors Association	Director
Dennis Littky	The Big Picture Company & The Met High Schools	Founder and Co-Director
Kathleen Little	The College Board	Senior Executive Director, Financial Aid Services
Evelyn Lynn	Florida Senate	State Senator
Lauren Maddox	U.S. Department of Education	Assistant Secretary, OCO
Arturo Madrid	Trinity U.	Murchison Distinguished Professor
Geri H. Malandra	U. of Texas System	Vice Chancellor for Strategic Management
David Mandel	Carnegie-IAS Commission on Mathematics and Science Ed	Executive Director
Kathryn Mannes	National Retail Federation	Managing Director, Workforce Development
William Massy	The Jackson Hole Higher Education Group, Inc.	President
Joe May	Louisiana Community & Technical College System	President
James McCormick	Minnesota State Colleges and Universities	Chancellor
Townsend McNitt	U.S. Department of Education	Deputy Chief of Staff
M. Peter McPherson	National Assn. of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges	President
Mary Meehan	Alverno College	President
Robert W. Mendenhall	Western Governors U.	President
Thomas Meredith	Institutions of Higher Learning (Mississippi)	Commissioner of Higher Education
Denise Merrill	Connecticut General Assembly	State Representative
Christina Milano	National College Access Network	Executive Director
Charles Miller	Meridian National	Chairman
Margaret Miller	National Forum on College-Level Learning	Director
John Moder	Hispanic Assn. of Colleges and Universities	Senior Vice President/COO
David Moldoff	AcademyOne	President
Sheryl Moody	Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools	Executive Director
Robert Moran	Perennial Strategy Group	Vice President
Geanie Morrison	Texas House of Representatives	State Representative
Anne Neal	American Council of Trustees and Alumni	President
Elaine Neely-Eacona	Kaplan Higher Education Corp	Senior V.P. — Regulatory Affairs
Michael Nettles	Educational Testing Service	Senior Vice President
Sheftel Neuberger	Ner Israel Rabbinical College	President
Kay Norton	U. of Northern Colorado	President
Charlene Nunley	Montgomery College	Retired President
Michael Offerman	Capella U.	President
Daryl Ogden	Project GRAD USA	Vice President, Strategy
Sean O’Hare	iThink Technologies, Inc.	President
Robert O’Leary	State of Massachusetts	State Senator
Shirley Ort	U. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	Associate Provost & Director
Katie Ortego	U.S. Education Department Office of Federal Student Aid	Program Specialist
H. James Owen	Piedmont Community College	President
Matt Owens	Association of American Universities	Assistant Director of Federal Relations
Raymund Paredes	Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board	Commissioner
David Payne	Educational Testing Service	Executive Director
Paula Peinovich	Walden U.	President
Mark Pelesh	Corinthian Colleges, Inc.	Executive Vice President
William Pepicello	U. of Phoenix	President
Laree Perez	The Medallion Company	Managing Partner
Robert Perry	South Dakota Board of Regents	Executive Director
George Peterson	Accrediting Board for Engineering and Technology	Executive Director
Tony Peyton	National Center for Family Literacy	Senior Director
Neil Pickett	Office of Gov.Mitch Daniels (Ind.)	Senior Policy Director
William L. Pollard	U. of the District of Columbia	President
Nan Poppe	Portland Community College	Campus President
James Ptaszynski	Microsoft Corp.	Senior Director, WW Higher Education Strategy
Karen Quarles	U.S. Department of Education, Office of Legislative and Government Affairs	Deputy Assistant Secretary
Julie Radocchia	U.S. House Committee on Education and Labor	Education Policy Advisor
Kathy Randolph Sproles	National Council for Higher Education, NEA	President
Chris Rasmussen	Midwestern Higher Education Compact	Director of Policy Research
Charles Reed	California State U. System	Chancellor
Travis Reindl	Jobs for the Future	Program Director
Stephen Reno	University System of New Hampshire	Chancellor
Kimrey Rhinehardt	U. of North Carolina	Vice President for Federal Relations
Robert Rivera	Project GRAD USA	President & CEO
Reginald Robinson	Kansas Board of Regents	President and CEO
Jason Rohloff	Office of Gov. Tim Pawlenty (Minn.)	Director of Federal Affairs
Raul Romero	Alliance Consulting Group, LLC	President and CEO
Joseph Russo	U. of Notre Dame	Dir. Student Financial Strategies
Donald Saleh	Syracuse U.	Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management
Stefanie Sanford	Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation	Deputy Director, National Initiatives
William Scheuerman	United University Professions	President
Bill Schilling	U. of Pennsylvania	Director, Student Financial Aid
Sandra Schroeder	American Federation of Teachers — Washington	President
Jewel Scott	The Civic Council of Greater Kansas City	Executive Director
Nancy Segal	ACT, Inc.	AVP and Director, Washington, DC office
Marlene Seltzer	Jobs for the Future	President & CEO
Rev. Michael Sheeran, S.J.	Regis U.	President
Robert Sheets	U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign	Business and Industry Services
Robert Shireman	Institute for College Access and Success	President
Sanford Shugart	Valencia Community College	President
David Shulenburger	National Assn. of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges	Vice President for Academic Affairsn
Ray Simon	U.S. Department of Education	Deputy Secretary
John Simpson	State U. of New York at Buffalo	President
Celia Sims	U.S. Sen. Richard Burr	Legislative Assistant
Andre Smith	Florida Dept of Education	Deputy Director
Kathleen Smith	Education Finance Council	President
Janis Somerville	National Association of System Heads	Senior Associate
David Spence	Southern Regional Education Board	President
Pat Stanley	U.S. Education Department Office of Vocational and Adult Education	Deputy Assistant Secretary
Sheila Stearns	Montana University System	Commissioner of Higher Education
Richard Stephens	Boeing Co.	Senior VP, Human Resources and Administration
John Stevens	Texas Business and Education Coalition	Executive Director
Debra Stewart	Council of Graduate Schools	President
Peter Stokes	Eduventures, Inc.	Executive Vice President
Karen Stout	Montgomery County Community College	President
Louis W. Sullivan	Morehouse School of Medicine	President Emeritus
Robert Templin	Northern Virginia Community College	President
Michael Thomas	New England Board of Higher Education	Sr. Vice President
William Troutt	Rhodes College	President
Carol Twigg	National Center for Academic Transformation	President and CEO
Johan Uvin	Rhode Island Department of Education	State Director of Adult Education
Richard Vedder	Center for College Affordability and Productivity	Director
Martha Walda	California State U.	Trustee Emeritus
Danielle Walking Eagle	St. Francis Indian School	Elementary Principal
David Ward	American Council on Education	President
Jack Warner	Rhode Island Office of Higher Education	Commissioner
David L. Warren	National Assn. of Independent Colleges and Universities	President
Chad Waukechon	College of Menominee Nation	Education/Outreach Director
Rabbi Moshe Z. Weisberg	Yeshiva Administrators of Financial Aid	President
Edwin Welch	U. of Charleston	President
Mary Ann Welch	NASSGAP	President
Jane Wellman	Delta Project on Postsecondary Costs	Director
John D. Welty	California State U. at Fresno	President
Ben Wildavsky	Ewing Marion Kauffman Fdn.	Senior Fellow, Research & Policy
Benna Wilde	Prince Charitable Trusts	Managing Director
Gene Wilhoit	Council of Chief State School Officers	Executive Director
Reginald Wilkinson	Ohio College Access Network	President & CEO
Roger Williams	Accrediting Council for Career Education and Training	Executive Director
Jack Wilson	U. of Massachusetts	President
Ralph Wolff	Western Assn. of Schools and Colleges	Executive Director
Shaun Yoder	Business Alliance for Higher Education & Economy	Director
Mark Yudof	U. of Texas System	Chancellor
Tony Zeiss	Central Piedmont Community College	President
Nancy Zimpher	U. of Cincinnati	President
Susan Zlotlow	American Psychological Assn.	Director, Program Consultation and Accreditation

— Doug Lederman

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Comments

Where are the Professors?

It is very revealing that a national summit on higher education should have a list of participants with virtually no active faculty members.

WHERE ARE THE PROFESSORS?

Why is education policy being made by a group of people that includes virtually no members whose daily activities are primarily centered in classroom teaching and academic research? While the society as a whole has a right to have some say on academic policies, it is ridiculous to be formulating such policies without the active participation of practicing academics at all levels of policy formulation.

The documents produced by such a process reflect little awareness of how complicated the problems are that they are pretending to address. To cite one example, the commission seems complains about the absence of a measure with which to compare the learning outcomes of differing colleges. Did they think that by waving a magic wand they could produce an exam that would somehow compare the knowledge gained by a student in American literature at one university with that of a graduate from a school of commerce at a different university?

The reports produced are strong on goals and weak on implementation. That is to be expected as the people proposing the lofty goals have very little connection to the day to day job of achieving such goals.

The one reassuring thing is that the commission seems sufficiently detached from the realities of academic life that there is little danger that anything they propose will have any effect on it.

Jonathan Cohen, Professor of Mathematics at DePaul University, at 8:05 am EDT on March 20, 2007

I second Cohen’s remarks, adding only some dismay: within this hodge-podge of interest groups, where is anyone who has thought long and deeply about cognitive processes, interactive group learning or even philosophies of education? For that matter, aside from financial aid directors and specialists, where are the (admittedly rare) economists who have studied the real costs of quality in higher education? Nothing golden is cheap; and learning outcomes, other than narrowly particularized, short term ones, are not measurable; yet to an informed, intellectually funded cohort significant outcomes are appreciable in a student’s developed powers of thought within given systems of expression and caluculation.

John Hill, Professor at U.S. Naval Academy, at 8:36 am EDT on March 20, 2007

Rats in a maze

And where are the STUDENTS? The fact that now the constituency for whom the system exists are now “invisible” reveals the true nature of this pow-wow of pooh-bahs.

I agree with the above comments, and wish to point out that you don’t ask rats in a maze for responses to something outside the maze. Institutional cognitive-blinders make path-creation impossible, and path-dependence inevitable.

Glen S. McGhee, Dir., at FHEAP, at 9:51 am EDT on March 20, 2007

Not to worry

Not to worry...275 people in a room will not lead us to (the highest point of attainment or aspiration: the summit of one’s ambition)[Webster’s definition of a summit].

The most that can happen re policy at this summit is continue to raise the issues so that we can create pathways to our own ambitions in our local environments...be that an accrediting agency or a university campus.

The issues are not ones of more money or even of core curriculum designs re cognitive thinking...the issue is about defining our aspirations for higher education in this country. Have we done that or have we continued to “name” the problems?

sbec, at 10:16 am EDT on March 20, 2007

Where Are the Customers?

No higher education committee, or commission, or meeting, will ever be fully complete without significant representation of current college customers: current students, current high school students, recent graduates, and parents. Why are these groups ignored, in favor of 49 college presidents who are only going to look out for their own interest? I also wouldn’t mind seeing some general taxpayers involved in the discussion, since colleges receive so many financial gifts from taxpayeres/government.

Mr. Un-Common Sense, at 10:45 am EDT on March 20, 2007

What does it matter who is in attendance? The very pairing of the name of Spellings with the term “summit” (the highest point)is absurd, and nothing constructive can be expected to result from this meeting. Spellings, incompetent Bush toady that she is, has caused the Dept. of Ed. to become even more mired in the ooze of DC’s bureaucratic malaise during her tenure as secretary. Want progress? Wait out the remainder of Bush’s illegitimate hold of the presidency and hope that the next executive has (a) an intellect, (b) some degree of honesty, and © a desire to do what is right for the country. Then, perhaps, an ethical secretary with brains and a sense of vision will be appointed to the Dept. of Ed.

Will, at 10:45 am EDT on March 20, 2007

Wow — I’m famous!

Chris Rasmussen, Director of Policy Research at Midwestern Higher Education Compact, at 11:17 am EDT on March 20, 2007

Spellings’ puppet

Tod’s comment is a typical, and indeed a verbatim, utterance of Secretary Spellings, as well as of determined know-nothings like the Council of Trustees and Alumni: identify a mythic professoriate who constantly cries “give us more money, trust us.” This particular straw man has remarkable staying power, but anyone who has spent much time in academe knows it to be a fatuous construct. Faculty are constantly working to improve teaching and learning, and striving to incorporate best practices in their areas of expertise. No one, at least no one with any sense, characterizes a brain surgeon as saying “give me money and trust me,” though one could argue that this is so. More properly, he/she is saying “I am well educated and trained, and subject to the constant review of my peers, and the fee I charge is money well spent.” If a group of pipefitters decided to start doing its version of quality control on neurosurgeons, the outcome, and outcry, would be similar to what we hear in response ot teh Spellings Commission report.

Tom, at 1:21 pm EDT on March 20, 2007

Summit Calls Attention to the Issues

The Summit should be used for what it can be expected to accomplish – stimulate awareness.

We in the private sector believe we can get more accomplished than the government. Let’s prove it.

Have a summit to parallel the government. Carnegie, Ford, Knight, Pew and other major foundations are interested in formal education.

Let’s get one or more of them to provide the money to direct the government to help put reforms in place. Contrary to one of the commentators above, the party in power is irrelevant – political considerations will continue to hamstring the government effort.

To provide a beginning list of private sector participants to draw from:

Paul Craig Roberts — Author and columnist – expert on Tyranny David Horowitz — Teacher and fixed critical ideology Howard Zinn — Historian and Realist Jacob Hornberger — Libertarian Michael Miliken - Financier Barry Lynn — Separate Church from State Mark Goodman — Student Press Advocate Amy Goodman — Speak truth to power Bill Moyers — Free press advocateTom Feeney — Website News Provider

Then ask all on the government list to contribute their views or explain the views they provide to the government.

Catch up on parent and student input – ask the rating services to help locate members of the public who can contribute.

Set up a website – ask all to contribute their input in writing to the site for peer review.

Use the government work as the basis for comment and outline of subject matter.

By use of the internet and email, the private sector can be more effective than the government because the people selected will be totally free to express their views. Also, most on the private sector list will be sufficiently dedicated to their opinion to back it with their money and effort.

Time to stop the polarization and move toward common ground to find solutions.

William Sumner Scott, J.D. Judicial Equality Foundation, Inc.wss@jefound.org

William Sumner Scott, J.D., at 2:16 pm EDT on March 20, 2007

Adjuncts?

And not a word on the adjunctification of the professoriate. Tuition costs are escalating, but faculty salaries are declining — rapidly. Where is the money going? Ever new layers of administration? Big sparkling new buildings? Were I a parent, which is to say, a potential consumer of the product sold by higher education, this would be my first, second, and last question.

Johnny has this awesome prof he keeps raving about, but for some reason Johnny can never find the guy to sit and talk with him outside of class.

Chris Devenney, Adjunct at Several, at 4:36 pm EDT on March 20, 2007

This is another step in the over two hundred year effort to make womb through tomb education consistent with the political economy of capitalism–or just about any other ism. The hegemony of high rationality is so deep that we should not expect anything less than central control of the eight essential education policy questions: What counts as knowledge (truth)?; Who determines what counts as knowledge?; Who decides what knowledge is to be transmitted?; To whom is it to be transmitted?; Who is to transmit it?; In what form?; Through what medium?; and What is the intended outcome? Resist.

Charles J. Fazzaro, Associate Professor at University of Missouri—St. Louis, at 7:30 pm EDT on March 20, 2007

Persons with Disabilities not Represented

March 20, 2007

VIA FAX: 202-401-0596 Margaret Spellings Secretary U.S.Department of Education 400 Maryland Avenue, SW Building FB6, Room 7W301Washington, DC20202

Dear Secretary Spellings:

The Association on Higher Education AndDisability (AHEAD) received the summary of your upcoming Summitaddressing the future of higher education this morning along with the list of invitees to be included at the event. We are disappointed to find that the list of attendees and the agenda for the event are devoid of topics or representatives who can effectively address issues related to disabled students in higher education. This oversight does a disservice to the productivity and effectiveness of the Summitand its agenda by overlooking the expertise needed to represent issues of disability in higher education. Students with disabilities are a steadily growing presence in higher education. Issues related to technology, assessment of learning and financing of higher education are key issues that affect students with disabilities in fundamentally different, and often more adverse, ways than other students.

During 2006, testimony presented at the public hearing in Bostonheld by the Department of Education’s (“the Department”) Commission on the Future of Higher Education specifically referenced critical issues in assuring equal access to higher education for people with disabilities. Unfortunately, none of the comments presented were reflected in the summary report issued later that year. This omission, combined with the clear lack of disability inclusion at the upcoming Summit, sends a message that the full participation in higher education by people with disabilities is not valued by the Department. We are sure that this is not the Department’s intention.

We respectfully request that at least one more voice be added to your table on Thursday – a voice representing the concerns and issues that impact all students in higher education, especially those with disabilities. AHEAD would welcome the opportunity to provide an appropriate representative to attend the Summitmeeting this Thursday. It would also welcome the opportunity to be an ongoing partner of the Department in its efforts to secure access to higher education for all students in the United States. As time is of the essence, we look forward to your timely reply.

Sincerely,

Carol Funckes, President Stephan J. Hamlin-Smith, Executive Director

AHEADAHEAD

Jose J. Soto, Vice President for AA/Equity/Diversity at Southeast Community College, at 7:49 am EDT on March 21, 2007

Oh my...

One Director of Financial Aid, one person who actually deals with these issues daily, one person who truly understands the break? Now all of you see why serious education access issues are evolving so quickly.

InsideAid, at 10:20 am EDT on March 21, 2007

Where are the early childhood educators?

Michele Lopez, Head Start Specialist at The Guidance Center, at 6:05 pm EDT on March 21, 2007

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Who’s Who at the Spellings Summit

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