Transcript  The Middle States Commission on Higher Education is a voluntary, non-governmental, membership association that is dedicated to quality assurance and improvement through accreditation via.

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The Middle States Commission on Higher
Education is a voluntary, non-governmental,
membership association that is dedicated to
quality assurance and improvement through
accreditation via peer evaluation. Middle
States accreditation instills public confidence
in institutional mission, goals, performance,
and resources through its rigorous
accreditation standards and their
enforcement.
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TEACHING includes analytical, communication, and other basic “lifelong
learning” college skills, expertise in the “major” field, and additional courses
needed for the type of education it offers. Students’ learning is assessed.
FEDERAL FUNDS FOR STUDENTS are available to students of colleges
accredited by federally recognized accreditors.
RESOURCES, FUNDING AND SERVICES are available as needed, such as
faculty, equipment, and student services.
CREDIT TRANSFER AND DEGREE ACCEPTANCE BY EMPLOYERS and
OTHER COLLEGES will probably be facilitated because a college’s
accreditation is usually considered.
MANAGEMENT is performed by appropriate staff.
EXPERTS are used in reviewing the college, such as professors and college
presidents.
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Full self-study once every 10 years; decision on
reaccreditation.
Five-years after accreditation decision, a
Periodic Review Report to report on progress
since accreditation decision.
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Steering Committee of faculty and staff
Steering Committee members chaired the nine
working groups of faculty, staff and students to
research the self-study outcomes and gather
evidence of how the institution meets the
accreditation standards
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1. Mission and Goals
2. Planning, Resource Allocation, and
Institutional Renewal
3. Institutional Resources
4. Leadership and Governance
5. Administration
6. Integrity
7. Institutional Assessment
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8. Student Admissions and Retention
9. Student Support Services
10. Faculty
11. Educational Offerings
12. General Education
13. Related Educational Activities
14. Assessment of Student Learning
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Affirm the University’s Mission; assess
alignment with the Plan for Excellence;
lay groundwork for the new strategic
plan
Document Institutional Policies and
Procedures
Identify Strengths and Challenges
Make Recommendations for
Improvement
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The Creating a Shared Vision website,
www.wcupa.edu/sharedvision/middlestates,
a centralized forum to communicate to the
university community about the self-study
process, and the work of other task forces and
working groups related to the University’s
vision for the future.
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March 21 - 23, 2011
Nine team members representing expertise in
discrete areas of higher education
 PASSHE representative
Site visit will end with an oral report by the Chair of
the Evaluation Team
Written report; opportunity to review and comment
MSCHE reviews all team reports in this cycle in June
2011
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Assess the understanding and
implementation of, effectiveness of,
and accountability for distributed
leadership across divisions.
Following this investigation,
develop a communication plan to
make clear how distributed
leadership can best function to
serve our students and the
University across all divisions.
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Refine the budgeting process in
order to strengthen the link among
planning, assessment, and resource
allocation; provide greater flexibility
for WCU to move resources across
divisions; and address the
accumulation of surplus rollover
revenue in order to allocate to
emerging needs.
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Create an institutional assessment structure
with clearly specified goals, measures,
procedures, and outcomes for all units, as well
as a mechanism for communicating results and
subsequent actions based on assessment
results. Assessment of student learning and
student support services would be one
component of this structure for assessing
institutional effectiveness.
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Improve academic advising for
all students (undergraduate,
graduate, transfer, and
nondegree).
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Ensure sufficient support for
faculty scholarship and teaching.
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Read (at least some of) the self-study
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Executive Summary
Conclusions and recommendations
The standards that speak to your “area”
Become familiar with the recommendations
Participate in meetings as scheduled with
individual team members (schedule in
development now)
Attend open forums with members of the
evaluation team