In Focus: The Spellings Commission

Since September 2005, the Secretary of Education’s Commission on the Future of Higher Education has generated enormous discussion about the role and performance of higher education in the United States. The commission’s members voted overwhelmingly, with one dissenter, to approve a version of their report in August 2006. This page brings together Inside Higher Ed’s coverage of the commission and the Education Department’s efforts to carry out the commission’s work, as well as other relevant information about the panel.

News articles on post-commission developments:

“Campus Accountability Proposals Evolve,” June 29

“Questioning College-Wide Assessments,” June 21

“Senate and Secretary: Showdown Looms,” June 18

“Key GOP Senator Warns Spellings,” May 29

“AAU Gets on Board,” May 7

“Stacking the Deck,” May 1

“Coke and the Spellings Commission,” April 30

“Dissent and a Disputed Phone Call,” April 27

“MLA Grades Spellings Commission,” March 30

” ‘First Step’ on Simplifying Aid Reform,” March 22

“Assessing the Spellings Commission,” March 21

“Who’s Who at the Spellings Summit,” March 20

“Huge IPEDS on the Atkins Diet,” March 9

“When Is Student Learning Good Enough?” February 23

“Huge IPEDS Lives,” February 19

“Another Way on Unit Records,” February 12

“Upping the Ante on Pell Grants,” February 2

“Accountability and Comparability,” January 31

“U.S. Accreditation Official Out of a Job,” January 29

“Another Front on Accreditation,” January 17

“The New Top Fed for Higher Ed,” January 3, 2007

“Quick Takes: The Secretary’s Summit on Higher Education,” December 28

“Feeling the Winds From Washington,” December 11

“Can You Say NACIQI?” December 5

“IPEDS on Steroids,” December 1

“Consensus (or Not) About Comparability,” November 30, 2006

News articles on the commission

“The Sounds of Conciliation,” September 27, 2006

“The Spellings Plan,” September 26

“The Secretary Offers a Preview,” September 8

“Changing the Report, After the Vote,” September 1

“Regulatory Activism?” August 21

“Carrying Out the Commission’s Ideas,” August 17

“18 Yesses, 1 Major No,” August 11

“Whodunit? Chairman Miller, That’s Who,” August 9

“The Making of a Majority,” August 7

“A Near-Final Report?” August 4

“Too Much Change, or Not Enough?” July 18

“Commission Report, Take 2,” July 17

“Prose and Politics,” June 28

“A Stinging First Draft,” June 27

“Federal Panel’s Fault Lines,” June 26

“U.S. Panel to Meet (Behind Closed Doors),” June 8

“The Hurdles Ahead,” May 22

“Consensus in Short Supply,” May 19

“Crunch Time for Commission,” May 12

“Will ‘Voluntary’ Accountability Work?,” April 10

“Coalescing Around Concepts,” April 7

“Blame It on the Faculty,” April 6

“Dropping a Bomb on Accreditation,” March 31

“Public Hearing, Take 2,” March 21

“No College Left Behind,” February 15

“U.S. Commission Hears From John Q. Public,” February 8

“In Search of ‘Big Ideas,’ “ February 6

“An Agenda Begins to Emerge,” February 3, 2006

“A Key Senator’s Suggestions,” December 12

“Tough Love for Colleges,” December 9

“Higher Ed Commission Gets to Work,” October 18

“What Should the U.S. Commission Do?” September 21

“The Future of Higher Ed,” September 20, 2005

Related news articles:

“Testing, Testing,” August 8

“Accountability Proposal Evolves,” July 11

“Wrangling Over Unit Records,” July 7

“New Source of ‘Tough Love’ for Colleges,” May 23

“Accountability, Canadian Style,” May 10

“Fresh Approach to Accountability,” April 3, 2006

“Graduated But Not Literate,” December 16, 2005

Commentaries on the commission:

“Assessment for ‘Us’ and Assessment for ‘Them’,” June 26

“Out of State Checks and Academic Credits,” Feb. 27

“Setting the Record Straight,” February 8

“A Warning on Measuring Learning Outcomes,” January 26

“Sorting Through the Critiques,” January 15, 2007

“A Modest Proposal on the Draft and Higher Education,” December 19

“What Spellings Got Right and Wrong,” October 3

“No God Left Behind — Why Not?” September 21

“A Challenge to the Forum,” September 15

“Why Colleges Are So Hard to Change,” September 8

“Grasping the Reins of Reality,” August 16

“Caring or Uncaring Assessment,” July 26

“The Value of Commission Reports,” July 18

“Not All Change Is Improvement, ” July 3

“Getting the Faculty On Board,” June 23

“Connecting the Dots,” June 16

“Accreditation: Why We Must Change,” June 1

“Accreditation: A Flawed Proposal,” June 1

“The View From the Peanut Gallery,” March 21

“Memo From the Chairman,” January 24, 2006

Other Web resources:

The commission’s final report

The draft report approved by the commission

The commission’s home page

List of members and their bios