|
Greetings!
It is pretty much an article of faith that the governing boards of colleges and universities should not get too deeply involved in institutional issues, especially academic affairs. Boards are responsible for overseeing the President and assuring themselves of sound management and prudent fiscal stewardship. Issues of academic quality are the responsibility of the faculty, and Boards typically spend far more time discussing finance and infrastructure than academic affairs. This distribution of focus stems from both 1) a sense that Boards should not be involved in academic issues that are the prerogative of the faculty and 2) that Boards are less competent to oversee issues of academic quality than other areas such as finance.
As the demand for greater accountability for student learning has grown, this understanding of the Board's role with respect to academic quality has begun to shift-and properly so. This month the Association of Governing Boards (AGB) issued a statement, Board Responsibility for the Oversight of Academic Quality, which provides sound principles and recommendations for Boards to play a proper and helpful role in assuring educational quality.
One of the AGB principles central to its statement mirrors the mission of the Alliance: "The Board should charge the President and Chief Academic Officer with ensuring that student learning is assessed, data about outcomes are gathered, results are shared with the Board and all involved constituents, and deficiencies and improvements are tracked." The AGB statement is worthy of attention, particularly in suggesting "Questions for Boards to ask" and making "Recommendations to Stakeholders," including institutional and system chief executives, chief academic officers, and, of course, board members.
At last month's AGB meetings I made two roundtable presentations about the Alliance. The board members I worked with were very supportive the Alliance's efforts, eager to understand and embrace these issues, and mindful and respectful of the roles of faculty members and administrators. This suggests that governing boards may be a valuable but as yet untapped resource in advancing evidence-based analysis and improvement.
Other groups are similarly thinking about how governing boards can further efforts in assessment, accountability, and improvement. Recently I participated in a Teagle Foundation Listening on Presidential and Board Leadership in Student Learning. A varied group of thirty or so board members, researchers, association leaders, and others spent a day discussing, in the words of Teagle President Rich Morrill, "the need for college presidents to lend their visible commitment to the goals of improving student learning and on making information about student performance transparent" and the principle that "the board is ultimately responsible for the fulfillment of the institution's mission, which requires that the governing body understands, oversee, monitors and assures the quality of the academic program and student achievement."
Governing board and presidential leadership and faculty involvement and leadership are all crucial elements in improving assessment and accountability, and ultimately evidence-based improvement of student learning. The Alliance, through the Presidents' Alliance, has stated this process of supporting presidential leadership. In the not too distant future we hope to working with other groups, including governing boards, as well.
Sincerely,
David C. Paris, Executive Director
|
