UA Education Policy Center Research Impacts New Carnegie Foundation Classifications

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – A recent national announcement marks the achievement of a goal that has been over a decade in the making for the Education Policy Center at The University of Alabama.

The prestigious Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has released a preview version of its new 2005 classifications of institutions of higher education that includes work on the two-year sector developed by researchers at the Education Policy Center in UA’s College of Education.

The work of Dr. Stephen G. Katsinas, EPC director, and Dr. David E. Hardy, director of research for the EPC, serves as a core component in this newest iteration of the Carnegie classifications related to the largest sector within the classifications – associate-degree granting institutions. The classifications are widely used for describing and categorizing institutions within higher education, from two-year colleges to major research universities.

“This research is of great significance within the higher education community. We are very pleased to see the work of our Education Policy Center recognized and implemented on the national level,” said UA President Robert E. Witt.

Katsinas said the work will help practitioners, policymakers, and scholars. “The new accreditation standards of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools require colleges to select ‘peer’ institution cohorts against which to benchmark institutional improvements. Carnegie’s classifications will likely become ‘the gold standard’ upon which these comparison groups are created,” he said.

Alexander C. McCormick, senior scholar at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, which is responsible for the classification, said “We believe that a more precise definition of the two-year college sector, which accounts for nearly half of higher education enrollment, is long overdue and will help policy makers, practitioners, and scholars alike. We are delighted to be able to incorporate this work into the new classification.”

In terms of research concerning two-year colleges, scholars have long needed better methods with which to choose representative samples for studies. Using the more detailed classification scheme developed by Katsinas and Hardy, researchers can do a better job of choosing similar—or purposefully different—groups of institutions to involve in their studies. “We are hopeful that this inclusion of our work in the newest Carnegie Classifications will allow us to make a significant contribution to how the community and technical college story will be told in the coming years,” Hardy said.

Chuck Fluharty, director of the Rural Policy Research Institute, a public policy consortia founded by Iowa State University, the University of Nebraska and the University of Missouri, said “Assessing the rural differential impacts of all public policies is essential, if rural people and places are to be equitably considered in public choice. This seminal work is essential in building the analytic framework which will support policy initiatives of the National Institute for Rural Community Colleges.”

Joe Sertich, president of both the Northeast Minnesota Higher Education District and the Rural Community College Alliance, said “Katsinas and Hardy have created a useful, powerful tool. I expect many state offices will use the new Carnegie classifications.”

Katsinas noted that he first began thinking about community college classifications in 1993. “Twelve years is a long time, but it’s been worth the wait. The distribution network of the Carnegie Foundation ensures that this work will reach the widest possible audience. The Foundation’s inclusion of our work is truly a major milepost on a journey of many years of research.”

“This publication illustrates why we established the Education Policy Center—to make a pro-active difference in how the University interacts with key constituencies in education,” said Dr. Jim McLean, dean of the UA College of Education.

McLean, whose office is in Carmichael Hall on the UA campus, also noted “This may be the first direct connection our University has had with Carnegie since Oliver Carmichael left the Foundation’s presidency to become UA’s president in 1953.

UA Provost Judy Bonner notes that UA has many connections with community colleges. “Our University is working with community colleges in the state of Alabama and beyond in new and expanded ways to serve students and the greater community. This work extends from improving transfer student success to identifying gaps in allied health program delivery in Alabama’s Black Belt,” she said.