Raising standards: A prototyping strategy for undergraduate education

Public concerns about the quality of undergraduate education merit the attention of research universities. This policy analysis documents standards of learning and teaching that fall far short of a liberal education in one department. It attributes the problem primarily to factors that obscure differences in standards, especially quantitative performance measures. And it recommends liberating small working groups of faculty volunteers to develop and distinguish courses that do raise standards. This prototyping strategy is an alternative tot the status quo, which is unsustainable, and a comprehensive, centrally-directed plan, which is impractical. It may be adapted to similar situations elsewhere.