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The formation of a Commission on the Future of Higher Education, also known as the Spellings Commission, was announced on September 19, 2005 by U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. The Commission is charged with recommending a national strategy for reforming post-secondary education, with a particular focus on how well colleges and universities were preparing students for the 21st-century workplace, and a secondary focus on how well high schools were preparing students for post-secondary education. In its Report, scheduled for official release on September 26, 2006, the Commission focuses on the areas of access and affordability (particularly for non-traditional students), the standard of quality in instruction, and the accountability of institutions of higher learning to their constituencies (most particularly students and their families, taxpayers, and others who might be regarded as investors in the system). Much of the content of the Spellings Commission draft is based on the "Measuring Up" reports in which each state evaluates the status of its higher education.
Formation of Commission
Announced September 19, 2005.
Report
Commission votes to approve draft, August 9, 2006.
Report scheduled for official release, September 26, 2006.
The most recet edition of the report, dated August 9th, proposed several solutions to amedning the problems facing higher education today. As stated earlier, these solutions corespond to four primary concerns of the commision: access, affordability, quality, and accountability. According to the commision, access to higer education "is unduly limited by the complex interplay of inadequate preparation, lack of information about college opportunities, and persistant financial barriers" (Commision Report 5). In response to this, the commission proposed linking the expectations of college professors for incoming freshman to the criteria required for students to graduate high school by increasing communication among the two groups. In an effort to lessen the stress of paying for college, the commissio's report reccommended shortening the FAFSA form in order to encourage more people to apply for financial aid. The report also urged colleges and universities to embrace inovative ideas for new methods of teaching like distance learning to improve the quality of higher education. Lastly, the commission proposed creating a public database, where statistics and other information about colleges and univesities could be viewed by all in order to clarify the hazyness of accountability.
Response to Report's Recommendations
The report does not come out until September 26, 2006, but there was a "report card" that is not affiliated, but is does overlap some of the same areas as the report. The "report card" looks at individual states and assesses their higher education since 2000. This "report card" focuses on most of the same areas as the actual report does. Spellings says that she sees similarities and she is proud that her report has similarities to the National Center's report.