In addition to the highly-misleading usage of ‘first-time full-time’ qualification for official graduate rates reported in the College Scorecard, there appears to be another major issue with the data. In particular, the Education Department (ED) is using a questionable method of determining whether an institution is degree-granting rather than relying on the IPEDS data source. […]
Russ Poulin
College Scorecard: An example from UMUC on fundamental flaw in the data
Russ Poulin at WCET has a handy summary of the new College Scorecard produced by the Education Department (ED) and the White House. This is a “first read” given the scorecard’s Friday release, but it is quite valuable since Russ participated on an ED Data Panel related to the now-abandoned Ratings System, the precursor to the […]
A response to new NCES report on distance education
By Phil Hill and Russ Poulin, cross-posted to WCET blog Last week the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) released a new report analyzing the new IPEDS data on distance education. The report, titled Enrollment in Distance Education Courses, by State: Fall 2012, is a welcome addition to those interested in analyzing and understanding the state […]
DOE Doubles Down on State Authorization: 25x increase in regulatory language
Now that the Kabuki Theatre of the Department of Education’s negotiated rulemaking process has finished its penultimate act, can we all act surprised that the likely result includes the proposed State Authorization regulations growing by a factor of 25 with no comments allowed by one of the groups most affected? The gist of State Authorization is […]
Proposed State Authorization: Dramatic increase in federal control of distance ed
The Department of Education (DOE) released their proposed State Authorization regulations this week as part of the negotiated rulemaking process that seeks to replace previous rules struck down by courts in 2011. While the new process is more transparent than before (which was the basis of the court rulings), the proposed rulings would represent a […]
WCET Post on Distance Education Misconceptions
It is gratifying to see WCET pick up the mantle with their analysis of distance learning based on the new IPEDS data. They have several posts up already, and today’s post is quite good and important. If only more people jumping into the fray on higher education history and reform would start with a grounding in […]