Higher Education Master Plan Review records, 1980-1987

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Summary

Creators:
Commission for the Review of the Master Plan for Higher Education
Abstract:
The records of the Commission to Review the Master Plan for Higher Education consist of four cubic feet of textual records as well as 49 audiotapes and 8 videotapes, reflecting the Commission's study and review of California higher education. The records, dated from 1985 - 1987, cover the full extent of the Commission's work in assessing the condition of higher education within the State and making recommendations for its improvement.
Extent:
4 cubic feet
Language:
Languages represented in the collection: English

Background

Scope and content:

The records of the Commission for the Review the Master Plan for Higher Education consist of four cubic feet of textual records as well as 49 audiotapes and 8 videotapes, reflecting the Commission's study and review of California higher education. The records, dated from 1980-1987, cover the full extent of the Commission's work in assessing the condition of higher education within the State and making recommendations for its improvement. The records are organized into eleven series: Minutes; Meeting Files; Hearing Files; Access and Success in Higher Education Subcommittee Files; Future Needs to the Year 2000 Subcommittee Files; Roles, Responsibilities, Goals and Missions Subcommittee Files; Community College Reassessment Study Files; Master Plan Review Files; Subject Files; Correspondence and Press Clippings.

Because of the Commission's short run and narrowly defined duties, its records provide a snapshot of the condition of and issues in the California higher education during the mid 1980s. A significant portion of information gathered by the Commission for their reports came from correspondence and testimony provided, both solicited and unsolicited, to the Commission from across the state by members of the postsecondary education community. Frequently, the testimony and correspondence was attached to supporting documents including news articles and reports. The information gathered from correspondence and testimony lent a broader point of view and more breadth of opinion to the Commission's review. The correspondence and testimony can be found throughout the collection including on the collection's 49 audiotapes. In the execution of its duties, the Commission was required to review only the most relevant and recently published reports and studies relating to California postsecondary education (Chapter 1507, Statues of 1984). These publications provided a scholarly backing to and were reflective of the information gathered from correspondence and testimony. The reports reviewed and retained by the Commission are also scattered throughout the collection.

Most of the collection's series contain material directly related to the execution of the Commission's two reports: an assessment of the Community Colleges and a review of the Master Plan for Higher Education. The Subject Files are representative of a broader array of issues in postsecondary education issues reviewed by the Commission and shows which issues were deemed important, current, and relevant enough to place in the reports and which were not. Of particular interest are files on information technology and its use in education. The use of computers and technological tools for distance learning was in its early stages in California during the Commission's review. And while neither of its reports addressed technology in education, the Commission gathered, reviewed, and retained a significant amount of information on the issue.

Also included in the Subject Files is a file on the Joint Legislative Committee for the Review of the Master Plan. As the recipient of the Commission's reports, the Joint Legislative Committee's file is of particular interest because it illustrates their opinion of the Commission's work as well as provides insight into the reviews and studies they were conducting themselves.

Biographical / historical:

In September 1984, Governor George Deukmejian signed Senate Bill 1570 establishing the Commission for the Review of the Master Plan for Higher Education (Chapter 1507, Statutes of 1984). The creation of this blue ribbon commission to review the Master Plan for Higher Education came during an era awash in postsecondary education reform.

The Commission for the Review the Master Plan for Higher Education consisted of 16 members. Members were to include the state Superintendent of Public Instruction or a designee of their choice, and appointees who were "citizens knowledgeable in the area of postsecondary education, business and community leaders representative of the cultural, ethnic and geographic diversity of the state." As a blue ribbon commission, members were to be laypersons not employed or retained by any public or private postsecondary educational institution so as to ensure an independent and unbiased study of California postsecondary education.

Prior to the Commission for the Review the Master Plan for Higher Education, review of the master plan for higher education was the responsibility of the Coordinating Council for Higher Education, and later as part of a dual track review process, the Legislature's Joint Committee for the Review of the Master Plan for Higher Education. In 1973, the Joint Committee made a recommendation in the course of its review that the master plan be reviewed every ten years. The Commission for the Review the Master Plan for Higher Education was meant to be an implementation of that recommendation. But, because of a recession and the fiscal limitations of the government, it performed just the one review. Future reviews were done by Assembly and Senate Committees instead of an independent commission and were more triage assessments than the desired comprehensive in-depth analysis of the condition of postsecondary education and its future needs.

The Commission for the Review the Master Plan for Higher Education was responsible for reporting to the legislature on three major postsecondary education issues areas. The Commission formed subcommittees to address these three issue areas - Future Needs to the Year 2000 Subcommittee; Access and Success in Higher Education Subcommittee; and Roles, Responsibilities, Goals, and Missions Subcommittee. In its assessment of these areas, the Commission conducted studies and public hearings and reviewed numerous reports relating to California postsecondary education. The Commission published two reports from its three-year study of California higher education. The first is titled "The Challenge of Change" and made recommendations to the Community College Board of Governors for improvement of the community college system. The second report, titled "The Master Plan Renewed: Unity, Equity, Quality, and Efficiency in California Postsecondary Education," was a submitted to the Governor and addressed the Commission's findings on the condition of postsecondary institutions in California and made recommendations to the Master Plan for Higher Education. Both reports were also submitted to the Legislature's Joint Committee on the Review of the Master Plan, which reviewed the reports and then made its own recommendations to the legislature.

Acquisition information:
The California State Archives acquired the Commission for the Review of the Master Plan for Higher Education Records according to state law.
Accruals:

No further accruals are expected.

Physical location:
California State Archives
Rules or conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard

Access and use

Location of this collection:
1020 "O" Street
Sacramento, CA 95814, US
Contact:
(916) 653-2246
reference@sos.ca.gov
Website