Accreditation

This training session will assist in the development of an accreditation team. An accrediting entity expects an institution to prepare its comprehensive evaluation and on-site visit through the collaborative efforts of many individuals. Whether it is a specialized accreditor seeking to confirm the quality of an academic program within a discipline, an accreditor affiliated with a state agency, or a regional accreditor that reviews the entire institution, the exercise of accreditation is a grand endeavor and represents the work of many dedicated individuals.

An accreditation team should have broad representation from the colleges and operational units, and consist of a variety of professionals with both knowledge and experience in assessment practices, university operations, expertise in writing, and knowledge of academic programs.

The accreditation team should have expertise representative of individuals across the academic disciplines, student affairs units, and administration offices. The team should include administrators, faculty, and professionals. It is beneficial to include some team members who have served the institution for longer time frames, as they can also contribute institutional historical knowledge.

Accrediting agencies have succinctly defined practices for institutions to adhere to when seeking either initial accreditation or reaccreditation. This session will facilitate an analysis of accreditation practices and determine how to integrate these practices into the operations of the academic and university units.

Aligning with accreditation criteria consists of developing an infrastructure which purposefully connects the criteria expectations with unit and institutional operations. An infrastructure includes identifying how the criteria for accreditation are met, documenting the curriculum structure, and defining the ways student learning will be measured and evidenced. This includes comprehensive program level curriculum mapping and cross-walking student learning outcomes with multiple standards and criterion.

Accreditation encompasses an inclusive learning experience with expectations for adequately and appropriately employing faculty, providing facilities, technologies, and learning spaces, and operating ethically in providing higher education experiences. In addition, this session will facilitate the development of a timeline to accompany the accreditation cycle. Accreditation cycles are normally five to seven years in duration.

The art of writing the assurance argument is covered in this daylong session with the Accreditation Team. The accrediting agency generally provides style guidelines and report parameters to be followed. The purpose of these directives is to generate a document which aligns statements of fact with evidence documents supporting confirmation of adherence to the criteria for accreditation.

There will be multiple individuals writing to the criteria for accreditation and establishing the parameters for writing styles is paramount. This session walks the team through each of the criterion, while providing examples of identifying what to write about. In addition, hands-on practice writing factual statements is a major focus of the session.

The visiting accreditation review team will have a focused itinerary and accommodating the on-site visit is vital to confirming accreditation recognition or reaccreditation. The review team is on-site to confirm that what was included in the assurance review document is legitimate. The team will want to meet with faculty, staff, administrators, and students including specific groups representing shared governance and curriculum committees.

In addition to preparing individuals for interactions with the review team, scheduling accommodations for meeting spaces, transportation, and information relating to lodging, travel, and meals is vital to ensuring a comfortable and productive on-site visit. These planning efforts require many collaborations with multiple operational units on campus. This session will cover all of the planning and logistics related to the onsite visit, in addition to preparing groups and individuals through briefing sessions prior to the visit.

The institution and academic units are required to assemble a body of evidence that supports the factual statements written in the assurance argument. The evidence is developed, archived, and assembled in a fashion where the review team can access the documents in an effective and efficient manner. The evidence repository is made up of documents that have been saved in a .pdf format including a cover sheet detailing the date of the document, the title of the document, the operational unit where the document is generated, and a short abstract of the document content. In addition, a chronological listing of the documents is provided to the review team to assist in expediently identifying support evidence to the assurance argument factual statements. This session provides individual instruction for the individual(s) who are serving in the role of building the evidence repository.