How Can Postsecondary Education Be More Accountable to Colorado Citizens? Colorado Commission on Higher Education Master Plan Background Paper.

This paper explores current Colorado postsecondary academic assessment and accountability efforts and offers a framework for decision-making about how to alter or enhance those efforts. The paper makes a distinction between assessment and accountability efforts from the statewide perspective. Assessment is defined as the use of measurement techniques to determine the impact of education on students. Accountability is defined as the use of assessment results to inform the public of the performance of the state's postsecondary education system. Also described are current practices which range from the legislatively mandated Higher Education Accountability Program (HEAP) to institution-based activities. A following section analyzes the adequacy of these current efforts arguing that HEAP is generally successful, that program accreditation and program review are effective, and that "The Scorecard," an annual publication offering a summary of a number of measures, has potential for becoming a valuable tool. National perspectives on postsecondary assessment and accountability are also reviewed. The paper concludes by proposing four options: (1) maintain assessment and accountability efforts currently underway; (2) discontinue or scale back current assessment activities, while enhancing accountability; (3) develop one system to do both assessment and accountability; and (4) continue current assessment activities, while enhancing accountability efforts. (Author/JB)