Transcript The Board’s Role in Accreditation

The Board’s Role in Accreditation
Michael F. Middaugh
Associate Provost for Institutional Effectiveness
University of Delaware
Celine R. Paquette
Trustee, St. Michael’s College
Winooski, Vermont
• Trustees, as institutional stewards, have an obligation to
ensure that a college or university operates efficiently and
effectively, educates its students to be productive members
of society, and strives in every dimension of its activity to
fulfill the organization’s mission.
• Because accrediting bodies, particularly the Middle States
Commission on Higher Education, have articulated
standards that focus on these particular outcomes, there is
a natural synergy between trusteeship and accreditation.
• The Board can use the accreditation process as a
framework for assessing how well an institution is meeting
its educational and societal mission.
• The institution’s Mission Statement, which must be ratified
by the Board of Trustees, is at the core of accreditation
activity, Trustees have an obligation to ensure that the
Mission Statement accurately reflects the institution’s core
values.
• The Mission Statement should be devoid of clichés and
jargon, and should address central value issues such as
which markets are to be served by the institution; the
balance between undergraduate and graduate instruction;
emphasis on teaching, research, and service, etc.
• The Mission Statement drives assessment and strategic
planning at the institution.
The Mission Statement provides valuable context for three specific
areas for which Boards have oversight responsibility, and upon
which compliance with MSCHE accreditation standards turns:
• Presence of a systematic program for assessing student
learning outcomes.
• Presence of a systematic program for assessing institutional
effectiveness.
• Presence of a strategic planning process that is informed by
assessment data, and that drives institutional decisions,
especially those related to the allocation of human and
fiscal resources.
Assessment of Student Learning
• Institutions must provide multiple types of evidence that
they are measuring student learning at the course,
program, and institutional level.
• This entails a clear articulation of the range of measurable
competencies that a student must be able to demonstrate
in individual courses and upon completion of work in an
academic major.
• It also entails measurement of general education
competencies – critical thinking, quantitative reasoning,
oral and written communication, and information literacy.
There is no “one size fits all” approach to
assessment of learning across the disciplines
None of these should be applied to evaluation of individual student performance for
purposes of grading and completion/graduation status.
1. Standardized Tests
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• General Education or Discipline Specific
• State, Regional, or National Licensure Exams
Locally Produced Tests/Items
• “Stand Alone” or Imbedded
Portfolios/Student Artifacts
• Collections of Students’ Work
• Can Be Time Consuming, Labor Intensive, and Expensive
Final Projects
• Demonstrate Mastery of Discipline and/or General Education
Capstone Experiences/Courses
• Entire Course, Portion of a Course, or a Related Experience
(Internship, Work Placement, etc.)
Assessment of Institutional Effectiveness
• In addition to measuring student learning, can the
institution provide multiple bodies of evidence that it is
making the maximum use of its human and fiscal resources
in support of its institutional mission, the core of which is
the teaching/learning process.
• Institutions must choose metrics for demonstrating that it
is meeting appropriate benchmarks for key performance
indicators, and that it is addressing the needs of the full
range of its constituencies
Non-Exhaustive List of
Representative Institutional Effectiveness Assessments
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Admitted Student Questionnaire
Entering Student Needs Assessment Survey
Student Satisfaction Surveys
Post-Graduation Student Follow-Up
Academic Program Review
Delaware Study of Instructional Costs and Productivity
Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index
Employee Satisfaction Survey
Campus Climate Survey
Fiscal Ratio Analysis
Space Utilization Studies
Etc.
Strategic Planning
• Trustees have an obligation to ensure that there is a formal
strategic planning process at the institution that is on-going
(as opposed to occurring only immediately prior to
accreditation self study), and that is fully informed by an
utilizes both assessments of student learning and
institutional effectiveness for continuous improvement.
• Trustees need not be the strategic planners, but they
certainly should be informed as to the results of the
process, and formally endorse the final product.
Characteristics of Best Practice in
Strategic Planning
• Good planning is broadly participatory.
• Good planning is mission-based.
• Good planning integrates academic, financial, human
resources, and facilities planning.
• Good planning is measurable.
• Good planning is iterative.
Questions That All Trustees Should Ask
• Does the governance structure support the institution in pursuit of its
mission?
• Does the administrative structure facilitate teaching and learning?
• Is the faculty appropriately credentialed in the various disciplines?
• Does the institution admit students whose academic preparation and
curricular interests are consistent with the institution’s mission?
• Are academic and student support services in place to help students
succeed in a manner consistent with the institution’s mission?
• Does the curriculum display sufficient content and rigor to ensure that
graduating students possess the skills to succeed in their chosen field
and to contribute to society in meaningful ways?
• In view of the emphasis on assessment, does the Board itself regularly
engage in systematic self-assessment of its role and performance in
institutional governance?
Questions???