This presupposes that these aren't present in the non-for-profit sector, which in my experience isn't the case.
And if we're going to use outcomes as a measure, it's clear for-profits are absurdly dysfunctional. Except:
> The way they take a much tougher cohort of students, on average, than most institutions.
The "we take on more difficult students" line makes no sense. With failure rates so high, it's not at all clear that they're doing anything other than taking on more students, failing those students, and thereby generating unnecessary debt and pocketing the federal grant money.
More-over, favorable analyses of for-profits almost always compares for-profits to flagship state schools or private non-profits, ignoring the class of institutions most similar in terms of prestige and quality -- local and regional state-run colleges and universities. Which are -- in my experience -- similarly prices and vastly superior in terms of learning community and outcomes.
> And, so, while there are certain practices that are not good to adopt there, seeing the challenges they face and seeing the things the way they have done well, bringing that into all of education, will be important.
Yeah, but it's kind of a tautology. "Good practices are good".
Anyways, I'm interested in specific examples. Because I really don't see any innovation per se in private higher ed. It's all stuff everyone else has been doing for decades, but with more marketing and unfounded claims to novelty.
> I don’t believe that a measurement system should simply apply to them and not apply to the broader universe. And, getting those things right is very, very difficult.
Yeah, I'll agree that performance-based funding structures don't make sense in education generally, and make even less sense in higher ed.
That said, it's kind of a misnomer -- if laws end up looking like what's been proposed so far, private institutions will always have the option of not taking federal grant money or subsidized loans.
IF performance measurement takes hold -- which it shouldn't -- I don't understand why the public should be expected to subsidize a for-profit industry and not have carte blanc to regulate. If you don't like the regulations, don't take the subsidy.