The Myths of Measurement and Meritocracy

This book examines the idea of educational accountability in higher education, which has become a new secular gospel. But do accountability policies actually make colleges better? What if educational accountability tools dont actually measure what theyre supposed to? What if accountability data isnt valid, or worse, what if its meaningless? What if administrators dont know how to use accountability tools or correctly analyze the problematic data these tools produce? What if we cant measure, let alone accurately assess, what matters most with teaching or student learning. What if students dont learn much in college? What if higher education was never designed to produce student learning? What if college doesnt help most students, either personally or economically? What if higher education isnt meritocratic, actually exacerbates inequality, and makes the lives of disadvantaged students even worse? This book will answer these questions with a wide, interdisciplinary range of the latest scientific research.