Jerry Muller has been writing and thinking about the consequences of what he calls the “culture of accountability,” at least since he published this article in the American Interest. Now he has a piece in the Chronicle called “The Tyranny of Metrics,” which is also the title of his new book, which should be out next month. It deals with learning outcomes assessment (harshly) but also looks at other types of metrics that are employed in higher education. Of assessment he says:
Metric fixation, which seems immune to evidence that it frequently doesn’t work, has elements of a cult. Studies that demonstrate its lack of effectiveness are either ignored or met with the claim that what is needed are more data. Metric fixation, which aspires to imitate science, resembles faith.