First out of the box and first to the woodshed: The University of Phoenix Annual Academic Report

This week one of the giants of higher education, and especially higher education for adults, the University of Phoenix, released its inaugural “Annual Academic Report.” The report covered student satisfaction ratings, scores on the Measurement of Academic Proficiency and Progress (MAPP), the Standardized Assessment of Information Literacy Skills (SAILS) and financial information. The university stated that the report was a “transparent look at a variety of ways in which the University of Phoenix measures itself in relation to its Mission.” I have written previously in this blog about an effort by a number of institutions serving adults at a distance called Transparency by Design. We are collecting data in 2008 and plan to report our findings in early 2009. The University of Phoenix is not a member of Transparency by Design, but many elements contained in the Transparency by Design program are reported in the University of Phoenix’s report.

The report generated attention from the Chronicle of Higher Education on June 5th and by June 6th. The critics were out in force. See:

http://chronicle.com/daily/2008/06/3115n.htm?utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

http://chronicle.com/news/article/4625/u-of-phoenixs-report-on-students-progress-is-disingenuous-critic-says?utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

http://insidehighered.com/news/2008/06/06/phoenix

Several things appear evident:

First, the University of Phoenix should be commended for attempting to be transparent … for taking a positive step toward accountability.

Second, even when we try to do the right thing, we will be criticized by those who constantly claim we have not done enough or there are better ways to be accountable.

Third, when an institution reports only on its own students and on its own data, the critics are even more harsh and question validity, motivation and more.

Transparency and accountability are very important to prospective adult students and to those who care about higher education for adults. The efforts of the University of Phoenix and Transparency by Design will improve over time and must be seen as first steps toward a greater outcome. Transparency by Design will address some of the criticisms made of the University of Phoenix report in that multiple institutions will use a common format to address critical elements of institutional performance, and that will allow for comparison of one institution to another. But, rest assured that there will be no shortage of critics.

But criticism is expected and accepted when we are trying to innovate in the area of being more accountable and transparent. Just as the University of Phoenix has been criticized, so will Transparency by Design. But we will prevail because accountability and transparency are long overdue. It won’t be perfect at the outset, but we are going to keep working on it and we will all be the better for it.

Mike