Employer perspectives on higher education accountability: Evidence of broad consensus or nuanced dissent?

Two nationally visible reports provide historical bookends on the persistent and commanding call for accountability in higher education. In 1986, the National Governor’s Association released a report entitled Time for Results, outlining a plan to reform education in the United States. One of the report’s major foci called for nationwide commitment on the part of institutional leaders to improve educational quality and to produce credible evidence of student learning (National Governor’s Association, 1986). Twenty years later, the Spellings Commission (2006) released “A test of leadership: Charting the future of U.S. higher education that once again expressed the concerns of stakeholders in government, industry, and other major constituencies to improve performance and accountability.