We can now add the Wall Street Journal to the national media outlets that have noticed HB 2504, the controversial 2009 law that requires colleges and universities to post course and faculty information online. The statute also mandates institutions to formulate a plan to post all student evaluations. Here's a link to the WSJ (subscription). The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed., and the New York Times have also covered the story, not always in a flattering manner.
The Journal piece, written by Stephanie Simon and Stephanie Ranchero, in the October 23 issue, is concerned primarily with efforts in Texas to quantify productivity in higher education, as in a recent attempt at Texas A&M to measure the economic benefit (or loss) provided by each faculty member. The A&M administration factored in enrollment, tuition, and associated costs for all disciplines. Naturally it created plenty of controversy, at A&M and elsewhere.
Regarding HB 2504, note the following passage from the WSJ:
Nowhere has the overhaul movement taken hold more firmly than in Texas. A law that took effect this fall—and which passed the legislature unanimously—requires public universities to post online the budget of each academic department. the curriculum vitae of each instructor, full descriptions and reading lists for each course, and student evaluations of each faculty member. The law, the first of its kind in the nation, requires the information to be accessible within three clicks of the college's home page.
Supporters say the information will help students pick useful classes so that they can move more quickly toward degrees. Skeptics fear it will spark culture wars as left and right tussle over the merits of specific classes and teachers. Ideologues could "find something they don't like in a syllabus, take it out of context and paint the wrong picture," said Karan Watson, interim provost at Texas A&M. Others are concerned that posting students' evaluations online will boost the status of professors who are entertaining—or an easy A—over those who require kids to wrestle with tough material.
"I know from experience that everyone who taught statistics got a lower evaluation than those who taught courses that were a little less challenging," says John Antel, provost at the University of Houston.
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