On Tuesday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee held the fourth hearing on the topic of Higher Education Act (HEA) reauthorization since November—this time the focus was on postsecondary accountability. The committee considered a number of proposals to improve accountability measures and reform data collection and reporting systems. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) highlighted a bipartisan bill he has cosponsored with Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) called the College Transparency Act (S. 1121). The measure would establish a postsecondary student data system to provide more accurate and complete data on student outcomes—repealing the existing ban on a federal student-level record system. ACTE supports the College Transparency Act.
Over in the House, a separate hearing was held on the topic of “Protecting Privacy, Promoting Policy: Evidence-Based Policymaking and the Future of Education.” While not solely focused on HEA, many similar themes were raised, including the College Transparency Act, sponsored in the House by several Education and the Workforce Committee members. Even more broadly, the question of what data was needed to ensure parents and students could make informed choices about their educational options was discussed in depth. Unfortunately, there was no clear consensus on how to balance the need for data for research, program improvement and consumer information with the need for student privacy, and there continue to be disagreements among stakeholders and Members of Congress about achieving this balance. We expect these issues to continue to be hot topics in both the House and Senate as HEA and other federal education legislation move forward.
As we previously reported, the House education committee approved an HEA reauthorization bill in December. During Tuesday’s hearing, Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) indicated that HELP would begin working on its reauthorization bill in the coming weeks.
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