U.S. Under Secretary of Education Ted Mitchell said he’d like to see federal regulatory frameworks encompass more about outcomes and not processes and inputs.
No one at the New America Foundation panel discussion—titled “Will Reauthorization Save the Higher Education Act”—had an authoritative read on if or when Congress would actually reauthorize HEA.
One of the most astute observations came in the form of a question from audience member Allen Sessoms, former University of the District of Columbia president who is now senior fellow at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.
Sessoms suggested that recent pushback over the Common Core State Standards could serve as a bellwether for how difficult it could be to see any progress with respect to the things the panelists suggested be done through HEA.
“We’ve had governors of states push the Common Core and it’s been adopted in lots of places, but all of a sudden it’s a political football and the federal government is being blamed for the Common Core and had very little to do with it,” Sessoms said.
“How do you expect discussions around the reauthorization of HEA to be less political than something as simple as that?”
“No one is talking about a Common Core for higher education,” responded panelist Kevin Carey, director of education policy at the New America Foundation.
