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Are Credit Hours Plaguing Higher Education?
By Catherine Groux
Posted September 06, 2012 12:00 PM
Some experts claim credit hours are not the best way to gauge student achievement.When students enroll in college degree programs, their progress is ultimately gauged by how many credit hours they accumulate during their studies. Without enough credits, students simply cannot graduate and earn a degree, regardless of how much they learned in the process.
While credit hours are a simple way for universities to tell if students have taken - and passed - enough classes to acquire the skills they need, a recent report by the New America Foundation states that a different measurement of academic achievement is needed.
Time Does Not Always Equal Learning
For modern students to earn a bachelor's degree, they must accumulate a designated number of credit hours. While this proves individuals have spent a significant amount of time in the classroom, the foundation argues that it does not indicate they have learned as much as they should have during their college experience.
The foundation cited a 2006 study by the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics, which shows that many college graduates lack real-world skills. For instance, only 69% of degree holders could perform basic tasks like summarizing opposing newspaper editorials or comparing the cost per ounce of various foods.
As similar studies show many college graduates lack the skills they need to succeed, a large percentage of employers are unhappy with applicants. According to the report, one-third of employers believe college graduates are simply unprepared to succeed on the job, regardless of how many hours they spent in the classroom.
Credit Hours May Not Transfer
Today, about 59% of students attend more than one college, meaning transferring at least once is becoming the norm. However, when these individuals decide to attend a different school, they will most likely realize that not all of the credit hours they earned will transfer with them. This often forces students to retake classes and spend even more time on their road to graduation.
"Countless dollars and hours are wasted every year as transfer students are forced to retake courses or never given credit for what they have learned due to the flawed currency of the credit hour," the foundation's report states.
Finding a New Way to Gauge Achievement
Given the flaws in using credit hours to determine whether students should graduate, the foundation states that the nation must begin to focus on what individuals are learning, rather than how much time they spend in the classroom.
"If the U.S. is to reclaim its position as the most-educated nation in the world, federal policy needs to shift from paying for and valuing time to paying for and valuing learning," the foundation's website states. "In an era when college degrees are simultaneously becoming more important and more expensive, students and taxpayers can no longer afford to pay for time and little or no evidence of learning."
