| Goals/Orientation: |
The Voluntary System of Accountability (VSA) communicates information
on the undergraduate student experience through a common web-reporting
template, known as the College Portrait. The College Portrait is a
source of basic, comparable information about public colleges and
institutions presented in a user-friendly format. The VSA is designed to
help public four-year institutions meet the following objectives:
demonstrate accountability and stewardship to the public; measure
educational outcomes to identify effective educational practices; and
assemble information that is accessible, understandable, and
comparable.
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| Work Plan: |
More than 80 higher education leaders from 70 public colleges and
universities contributed to the development of the VSA program and
data-reporting template during 2007. The concept of the VSA was first
outlined in a 2006 discussion paper shared broadly among the members of
APLU and AASCU. The paper and its two subsequent updates formed the
basis for discussions among education officials, policy makers, and
academic leaders, and ultimately the creation of the VSA.
The data elements included in the College Portrait were identified
and evaluated based on input from student/family focus groups, feedback
from the higher education community, and research on higher education.
For each VSA participating institution, the College Portrait supplies
basic comparable information through a common web report. Information
includes student and campus characteristics, cost of attendance, success
and progress rates, campus safety, class size, student experiences on
campus, and student learning outcomes. The cost estimator will be
redeployed in October 2009 in a form that is fully compliant with the
Higher Education Act's requirement that each university makes available
such a calculator. Both the measurement of learning outcomes and the
cost calculator are major distinguishing features between VSA and U-CAN,
its private institution counterpart.
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| Upcoming Activities: |
VSA is conducting summer workshops to assist participating
institutions with the Learning Outcomes section of the College Portrait.
In 2009, the focus will be effective administration practices. In 2010,
the focus will be the application of results for institutional
improvement. A summary of the workshop discussions will be available
each fall. The workshops are funded through a grant from Lumina
Foundation for Education.
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