Interpreting and Applying the 14 Standards

Interpreting and Applying the 14 Standards Dr. José Jaime Rivera, President Universidad del Sagrado Corazón MSA Workshop - October 4, 2006

By 11:00 am you will be able to: • Interpret/apply Standards & Fundamental Elements; • Develop interview questions, techniques & lists; • Understand peer review process & the value of differing perspectives; • Understand that C/U must be assessed in the context of its own Mission & Culture [NOT the Team’s C/U’s M&C]; • Differentiate between: requirements, recommendations and suggestions & the action level that corresponds to the first two.

By 11:00 am you will be able to: • Determine whether additional information, documents, or questions are needed; • List documents that should be requested relative to the standard • Determine what other Q’s must be asked, which institutional staff and additional documents must be accessed to determine compliance.

Background • Pat McGuire’s presentation • Meaning and process of accreditation; • Expectations from Chair and Team by MSA and the Institution being visited; roles; • Profile of an effective team and chair; • NEED for advanced preparation and knowledge about MSA’s Mission, processes, resources and support. • Beth Paul’s presentation • Importance & differences between eligibility requirements, standards, context, fundamental elements; • Interpreting and applying standards & fundamental elements; • Applying “Fairness Doctrine” [Inst. Efforts + progress :: MSA Exp.] • Standards 7 & 14; What evidence demonstrates compliance; acceptable assessment processes; • Links among assessment, planning and resources.

Standard • Expressed in one or two sentences. • Followed by narrative text, under the heading “Context,” that addresses topic of standard, its context and values; provides guidance and definition; and builds a bridge to the Fundamental Elements. • The narrative is not part of the actual standard.

FE: explain the standard. FE’s specify characteristics that constitute/encompass the standard. Institutions/evaluators use elements, within context of M, to demonstrate/determine compliance the standard. Institutions utilize FE and Standards, as guide to SS. FE specified for each standard have inherent relationship to each other, and collectively constitute compliance. Neither institution nor evaluators should use the FE as checklist. Both institution/evaluators must consider totality created by FE and other relevant institutional information or analysis. Where C/U does not demonstrate evidence of a FE, it may show through alternative inf/analysis that it meets standard. Fundamental Elements

Optional Analysis and Evidence • Most evidence/analysis provided to demonstrate C/U meets accreditation standards is clear/inherent in FE’s. • Optional Analysis and Evidence, the final section of each standard, provides additional examples of documentation/analyses that might be carried out relative to a standard. • Each C/U determines if S.S. processes/report may be strengthened by these analyses and resources. • The list is not comprehensive but is provided for use, as deemed appropriate, by the institution. • It is not intended for independent utilization by the evaluation team, and institutions are not required to provide the information listed. • A C/U should make choices of representative, useful sampling of evidence in any category. • Relevant to each standard and FEs, C/Us are encouraged to incorporate other types of assessment/analysis particular to their M, G, programs, and structures, including assessment documents done for other agencies.

Standard 1: Mission and Goals • The institution’s mission clearly defines its purpose within the context of higher education and indicates who the institution serves and what it intends to accomplish. • The institution’s stated goals, consistent with the aspirations and expectations of higher education, clearly specify how the institution will fulfill its mission. • The mission and goals are developed and recognized by the institution with the participation of its members and its governing body and are used to develop and shape its programs and practices and to evaluate its effectiveness.

Context: Institutional Mission & Goals • Developed w. representation from all sectors; gov. body. • Defines institution, delineates scope, explains character and individuality, and articulates values as appropriate. • Basic purposes/characteristics, [research or community], are addressed in Mission Statement. • M accompanied by related statements [Phil. Goals, Vision]. • Goals: define endpoint/characteristic that describe it; stem from M; developed w. community involvement; based on review of existing goals and analysis of internal/external forces affecting it; provide framework for ongoing development and self-evaluation. • G: expressed as outcomes: how C/U, constituents & community will change due to initiatives and undertakings.

Context: Institutional Goals • Educational goals stated in terms of seeked outcomes [ academic & personal changes/competencies it seeks to foster in its students). • Expressed in observable terms [ensures ability to assess]. • Flexible for C/U to respond to internal/external opportunities /changes, [new disciplines, their changes, methods & tech]. • Institutional Objectives or strategies are activities, initiatives, that institutions might conduct to achieve a goal. • CHE expects C/U to define a goal (the broader end point), & the objectives or strategies (the path to achieve the goal). • A C/U is expected to aspire to excellence, & to operate within realistic goals given M, fin., human, physical res. • M & G are most effective when part of an effort to improve & integrate all activities/operations of the institution. [SP] • Keeps evaluating itself, improves, reviews M; keeps current.

Fundamental Elements of Mission & Goals • An accredited institution is expected to possess or demonstrate the following attributes or activities: • clearly defined Mission and Goals that: • guide faculty, administration, staff and governing bodies in making decisions related to planning, resource allocation, program and curriculum development, and definition of program outcomes; • include support of scholarly and creative activity, at levels and of the kinds appropriate to the institution’s purposes and character;

Fundamental Elements of Mission & Goals [cont.] • G developed collaboratively by those who facilitate or are responsible for the C/U improvement developments; • G are periodically evaluated and formally approved; • G are publicized and widely known by C/U members; • M & Gs that relate to external as well as internal contexts and constituencies; • Institutional Goals consistent with Mission; • Gs focus on student learning, other outcomes, and institutional improvement.

Fundamental Elements of Mission & Goals [cont.] • Institutions and evaluators must consider the totality that is created by the fundamental elements and any other relevant institutional information or analysis. • Fundamental elements and contextual statements should not be applied separately as checklists. • Where an institution does not possess or demonstrate evidence of a particular Fundamental Element, the institution may demonstrate through alternative information and analysis that it meets the standard.

Optional Analysis and Evidence • In addition to the evidence inherent within or necessary to document the FE above, the following, although not required, may facilitate institution’s analysis of this accreditation standard: • evidence of written public statements to constituencies on chief executive’s vision for the institution; • analysis of how goals are applied at different levels within the C/U and how implementation of goals is coordinated; • analysis of processes used to develop goals and for periodic review of mission and goals; or • review of policies and processes to disseminate M & G to new faculty, staff, students and governing body and efforts to maintain awareness and commitment to M.

Analysis of a Mission Statement: • Questions: 1. Are its Mission, Goals and objectives proper, broad enough, clear, accepted, measurable, achievable? 2. Are they appropriate for this community, for the population served? 3. Are the programs and services offered consistent with them? 4. Are they designed to reach them? 5. Is there evidence that we are reaching them? 6. Do they have the human, physical, financial resources to achieve them and continue to do so in the next planning cycle? SHOW ME!!!!

Focus on Goals and Objectives Goals which complement and flow from the mission, indicate how the mission will be achieved. Thus, they are critical. There are three types of Goals: (Kells, 1983, 65.) 1. Input Goals: describe the type of human resources, students, & other resources that will characterize the institution; 2. Process Goals: describe then environment and types of programs & services offered to promote the mission; 3. Outcomes goals: state expectations of what is to be achieved or produced as a result.

Standard 2: Planning, Resource Allocation, and Institutional Renewal • An institution conducts ongoing planning and resource allocation based on its mission and goals, develops objectives to achieve them, and utilizes the results of its assessment activities for institutional renewal. • Implementation and subsequent evaluation of the success of the strategic plan and resource allocation support the development and change necessary to improve and to maintain institutional quality.

Standard 3: Institutional Resources • The human, financial, technical, physical facilities, and other resources necessary to achieve an institution’s mission and goals are available and accessible. • In the context of the institution’s mission, the effective and efficient uses of the institution’s resources are analyzed as part of ongoing outcomes assessment.

Standard 4: Leadership and Governance • The institution’s system of governance clearly defines the roles of institutional constituencies in policy development and decision-making. • The governance structure includes an active governing body with sufficient autonomy to assure institutional integrity and to fulfill its responsibilities of policy and resource development, consistent with the mission of the institution.

Standard 5: Administration • The institution’s administrative structure and services facilitate learning and research/scholarship, foster quality improvement, and support the institution’s organization and governance.

Standard 6: Integrity • In the conduct of its programs and activities involving the public and the constituencies it serves, the institution demonstrates adherence to ethical standards and its own stated policies, providing support for academic and intellectual freedom.

Standard 7: Institutional Assessment • The institution has developed and implemented an assessment process that evaluates its overall effectiveness in achieving its mission and goals and its compliance with accreditation standards.

Standard 8: Student Admissions and Retention • The institution seeks to admit students whose interests, goals, and abilities are congruent with its mission and seeks to retain them through the pursuit of the students’ educational goals.

Standard 9: Student Support Services • The institution provides student support services reasonably necessary to enable each student to achieve the institution’s goals for students.

Standard 10: Faculty • The institution’s instructional, research, and service programs are devised, developed, monitored, and supported by qualified professionals.

Standard 11: Educational Offerings • The institution’s educational offerings display academic content, rigor, and coherence appropriate to its higher education mission. • The institution identifies student learning goals and objectives, including knowledge and skills, for its educational offerings.

Standard 12: General Education • The institution’s curricula are designed so that students acquire and demonstrate college-level proficiency in general education and essential skills, including at least oral and written communication, scientific and quantitative reasoning, critical analysis and reasoning, and technological competency.

Standard 13: Related Educational Activities • The institution’s programs or activities that are characterized by particular content, focus, location, mode of delivery, or sponsorship meet appropriate standards.

Standard 14: Assessment of Student Learning • Assessment of student learning demonstrates that, at graduation, or other appropriate points, the institution’s students have knowledge, skills, and competencies consistent with institutional and appropriate higher education goals.

¡ADELANTE!

Interpreting and Applying the 14 Standards