Accountability for CSU Students

Being accountable to the public is a responsibility the California State University takes very seriously (“Measuring the Universities,” editorial, Jan. 6). The state invests in the CSU to prepare well-rounded graduates who contribute to the quality of life in California, and state leaders are right to ask us how well we are doing.

That is one reason the CSU developed Cornerstones--the system-wide planning framework with an accountability process created through a collaborative effort that included participation from every CSU constituency. Approved by the trustees in November 1999, the process requires all CSU institutions to identify and assess student learning outcomes. That means specifying what students should know and be able to do when they earn degrees and making sure that they have attained these competencies in both general education and in their major areas.

Although your editorial notes that specifying knowledge and skills might cause colleges to devolve into “trade schools,” in fact the opposite is true. Far from “abandoning core liberal arts knowledge,” CSU campuses, through the assessment process, have reaffirmed the importance of general education by stating clearly what competencies and skills liberally educated and well-rounded individuals should possess.

By 2003, all CSU campuses will have completed this process of accountability for student learning.

CHARLES B. REED

Chancellor, CSU

Long Beach