In an update to the story that this blog has been tracking for some time (see our two past blogs about this subject here and here), the US Department of Education has given its strongest confirmation yet that it is willing to embrace a model of judging educational progress and mastery that transcends the credit hour.
Higher Ed Watch recently released an article about the Department of Education letter that confirms the shift:
The U.S. Department of Education took a critical step forward today in moving towards a more flexible and innovative financial aid system-one that privileges (and pays for) learning, rather than time. In a letter… the Education Department let the world know not only that schools can award federal financial aid based on competency rather than seat time, but that the Department wants them to do so.
The shift by the Education Department toward accepting direct assessment began back in 2005 when Congress “created an alternative path allowing federal financial aid to be awarded to a program that ‘in lieu of credit hours or clock hours as the measure of student learning, utilizes direct assessment of student learning.’” Congress did this in large part to allow Western Governor’s University (WGU), which wanted to follow a model without the credit hour, to receive federal financial aid.
Ironically, WGU ended up opting to work with the Education Department to translate their model into a comparable credit hour system, but another university, Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU), applied last fall to receive federal financial aid on the direct assessment model.
The letter from the Education Department not only confirms that SNHU’s petition will be granted, but also encourages more universities to follow the same model, despite making reference to what Amy Laitinen of Higher Ed Watch calls “potential, limitations, and unknowns” of the direct assessment model.
For more information, please visit the following website: http://higheredwatch.newamerica.net/blogposts/2013/new_department_of_education_letter_could_put_cracks_in_the_credit_hour-80998
And for a direct link to the Education Department’s letter, please follow this link: http://higheredwatch.newamerica.net/sites/newamerica.net/files/articles/DCL_DA_3.19.2013.pdf
