Patricia McGuire, in a [*Chronicle* commentary](https://www.chronicle.com/article/How-Higher-Education-s-Data/247409) [paywall, alas] on the tyranny of metrics:
> In recent years, pushed by the critics who push Congress and the U.S. Department of Education, accreditation has inexorably moved toward even more data-driven assessment processes in both regional and specialized accreditation. Whether this migration has produced more accountability is unclear. While the idea of self-study and collegial peer review continues, the hegemony of data analytics threatens to diminish the most useful parts of the accreditation process in the collegial discussions that honor mission and institutional context while also challenging institutions to improve.
The coercive spread of quantitative "assessment" mandates by U.S. accreditors is a story that still hasn't been told.