Dive Brief:
- Education Week examines the possibilities of a groundbreaking presidential appointment in the U.S. Department of Education under a Hillary Clinton administration: a secretary picked from the higher education sector.
- Some observers believe that a postsecondary appointment would yield far less political backlash than one from K-12, which gets confusing on issues like charter schools and mandatory student assessments.
- Several current college presidents, including Arizona State University's Michael Crow and the University of Maryland - Baltimore County's Freeman Hrabowski, are on a short wish list of appointees.
Dive Insight:
Politically, it makes sense for a higher education appointee to offset years of K-12 oversight and perspective which have caused mixed results for higher ed outcomes. Decisions on issues like student aid, accreditation monitoring and accountability have all taken big hits over the last few years with initiatives like the College Scorecard and heightened cash monitoring.
With a former or current college president, there at least would be a sense that the sector would have a fairer shot at developing policies which work for a wider range of schools — a crucial need for colleges and universities as markets and government intervention have pushed several smaller institutions to the brink with underdeveloped standards of performance.