Transcript Revisiting the Carnegie Unit Education Writer’s Association May 2014 The Best Measure We Have? The Carnegie Unit, or credit hour, is a common standard,

Revisiting the Carnegie Unit
Education Writer’s Association
May 2014
The Best Measure We Have?
The Carnegie Unit, or credit hour, is a common
standard, language, and currency in American
education. It is efficient for administration,
ubiquitous in policy and practice, remarkably
durable, and deeply engrained in education.
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It is also a flawed proxy for student learning.
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Pensions for Professors
“I have reached the conclusion that the
least rewarded of all the professions is
that of the teacher in our higher
educational institutions...
I have, therefore, transferred to you and
your successors, as Trustees,
$10,000,000… to provide retiring
pensions for the teachers of universities,
colleges and technical schools...”
-Andrew Carnegie, April 16, 1905
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Standards for Higher Education
“An institution to be ranked as a college,
must have at least six professors giving their
entire time to college and university work, a
course of four full years in liberal arts and
sciences, and should require for admission,
not less than the usual four years of
academic or high school preparation, or its
equivalent.”
-First Annual Report of Carnegie Foundation, 1906
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Standards for High School
“College entrance requirements are
designated in terms of units, a unit being a
course of five periods weekly throughout an
academic year of the preparatory
school…14 units constitute the minimum
amount of preparation.”
-First Annual Report of the Carnegie Foundation, 1906
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The Unit Spreads Fast and Far
• Within a decade, the Carnegie Unit becomes the
foundation for high school and college standards
across the country.
• By mid-century, the Unit is deeply embedded in:
– Federal Financial Aid—Post GI Bill, linked to Title IV
funds
– Federal reporting—by 1960s, federal data on higher
education centered on the credit hour
– State budget formulas—as higher education expands to
multi-campus systems
– Institutional faculty work-load, student admissions,
transfer and degree requirements, and more…
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New Landscape for Change
 Outcomes-based accountability pressures—from
regulatory bodies, consumers and industry
 Completion agenda—more students to serve overall,
including adult “working learners” and military
 Cost crisis—rising institutional costs, tuition and
student debt
 Advancing technology and learning science
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Policy Responses
• Federal endorsement of degree programs that do
not rely on credit hour, and approval of first
degree program—SNHU’s College for America—
to use direct assessment instead of time-based
measure of progress.
• Proposed changes to accreditation system
• Federal programs to link high school to career
and college—career academies, dual-enrollment,
and early college programs.
• K-12 and higher education on parallel tracks?
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What’s Coming
Emerging standards of learning
New models for measurement (e.g. direct
assessment), and new designs (flexible, selfpaced, online)
An improvement approach to testing and
improving models
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Contact
Elena Silva
Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
DC Office
901 E Street, NW
Washington, DC 20004
[email protected]
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