Higher Ed Roundup: Week of June 9 – June 13

California Bill Would Create Higher Ed Accountability Framework

Challenging Perceptions of the ‘Model Minority’

Report Calls for More College Cooperation on Merit Aid

California Bill Would Create Higher Ed Accountability Framework

A bill in the California state legislature that aims to make the state’s public colleges more accountable for the performance of their students is gaining momentum. The legislation, which was approved by the State Senate this month, received unanimous approval on Tuesday from the Higher Education Committee in the California Assembly and will move for a vote in the full Assembly shortly. The bill would create “an accountability framework” in which the California State University and community college systems would be required to report data on student achievement and the rates at which their students graduate and obtain gainful employment. The bill is sponsored by State Sen. Jack Scott, who in January will assume the presidency of the state’s community college system. Scott hopes that private colleges and the University of California system (which is constitutionally independent) will voluntarily contribute information. A similar bill passed the legislature in 2004 but was vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who didn’t think it was tough enough.

Challenging Perceptions of the ‘Model Minority’

A new report from New York University and the College Board debunks common myths about Asian-American and Pacific Islander students as science-oriented overachievers who are concentrated in the nation’s top schools. According to the report, increases in enrollment at selective colleges by these students have been comparable to those of other ethnic groups. In fact, the study finds that Asian-American and Pacific Islander students are enrolling in community colleges at a faster rate than at four-year schools. The report stressed the diversity of these students, and concluded that socio-economic status is a much better predicter of academic performance than race.

Report Calls for More College Cooperation on Merit Aid

Colleges provide $3 billion in institutional grant aid to students without financial need, according to a report released on Thursday by The Institute for College Access & Success, a nonpartisan higher education research and advocacy group. The report, entitled “Time to Reexamine Institutional Cooperation on Financial Aid,” found that in 2006-07 academic year, nearly half of all institutional aid awarded by public colleges, and about a quarter of all such aid awarded by private colleges went to students based on their academic merit rather than on their financial need. The report calls on Congress to expand an anti-trust exemption law to allow more colleges to exchange information about their aid policies to help them increase need-based aid without putting themselves at a competitive disadvantage. Currently only those colleges that have declared themselves to be need-blind are allowed to take advantage of the exemption. [Disclosure: Higher Ed Watch is supported by the Institute for College Access and Success with funds provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts.]