FAQs on Annual Reporting Requirements
This page provides a list of frequently asked questions on topics of interest to the public (FAQs on Accreditation and FAQs on Third Party Comment) and to member institutions (FAQs on Substantive Change). Click on one of the links below to jump to the FAQ of interest.
In March, the ACCJC sent all member institutions an Annual Report Form designed to gather information about implementation of the 2002 Standards of Accreditation that deal with student learning outcomes and assessment. Institutions have asked for clarification about the purposes of the new form.
Q. Why has the Commission decided to ask institutions for information about their progress in meeting the 2002 Standards of Accreditation that deal with definition of the expected student learning outcomes, assessment of student learning, and changes to the institution designed to improve learning?
First, as part of a comprehensive review of its operations undertaken every six years, the Commission is in the midst of a year-long study of itself, its services, and the state of its member institutions. As part of that study, the Commission wanted to know where the institutions are in implementing the student-learning-related new requirements of the 2002 Standards. The Commission regularly uses the Annual Report to get information on new or innovative efforts at its member institutions, or to gather information on topics that are of interest to the Commission or the US Department of Education. Good examples of this are the reporting on distance education and additional sites that the Commission’s Annual Report has asked for in the past and that have now become rather routine.
Second, the Commission has repeatedly stated that it expects institutions to take “eight to ten years” to fully implement the student learning requirements of the 2002 Standards of Accreditation. In June 2007, five years will have passed since the Commission adopted and published those standards. The timeline is half complete. The Commission wants to know how much progress is being made. It also believes that institutional leaders want to know how far their institutions have come, and how far they have to go.
Finally, the ACCJC is undergoing its review for recognition with the US Department of Education this year. The application will be submitted in June, and the Commission will appear before the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Improvement (NACIQI) in early December. Two other regional commissions have had some significant and negative NACIQI responses to their applications. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) was required to submit a report that will show how it will set the "bright line" measure of learning outcomes for technical programs at institutions it accredits, and how it will act to remove accreditation from those institutions that cannot meet the bright line measure within a specified period of time. The Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities (ACSCU/WASC) was asked how it would annually assess the amount of learning going on at institutions it accredits, and assure that steady improvements are made in that learning. The ACCJC is anticipating being asked for specific information during its recognition hearing about where its institutions are in implementing its new standards, and it wants to be prepared to answer.
Q. Why did the ACCJC ask so many questions about institutions' definition of expected student learning outcomes, assessment of learning, and changes to institutional practice to improve learning?
The 2002 Standards require institutions to define expected student learning outcomes and assess them in order to improve learning at the course, program, and degree or institutional level. The template the Commission developed for this Annual Report is designed to gather relevant information at all of those levels of institutional effort.
In trying to design the relevant questions, the Commission also took into account the many questions it has received from institutions over the years about "What do the Standards require?" "Where should my institution start to work with student learning outcomes?" "What are all the key things we must do?" The Commission also examined published works on the assessment process that describe how institutions implement learning outcomes assessments that are linked to educational improvements.
The Commission staff decided to create a template for gathering information that would also be a "roadmap" for institutions. Its detail is designed to help institutions know where they are in their own developmental process.
Q. How will the Commission use this information?
The Commission will file the Annual Report form in individual institutional files, with other elements of the annual reports that we ask of institutions each year. It will also provide the Annual Report forms to the team chair of a comprehensive evaluation visit as background information.
The Commission will also do an analysis at the aggregate level of where its member institutions are in the developmental process. It will consider this information as part of its strategic planning efforts that will begin in fall 2007, when other components of the Commission's research efforts are also completed. The planning will include provisions for workshops and conferences designed to help institutions move forward in this important area of higher education development.
Finally, it is expected that this template, in some form, may eventually become part of the material that guides self study and team analysis of institutional quality during comprehensive evaluation visits. It would then be embedded in the Guide to Evaluating Institutions and used by both colleges and teams.
The Commission hopes institutions will provide suggestions to improve this form as they work with it.
Q. Will the college annual report be used to evaluate the institution?
At this point, it will not be used by the Commission to evaluate institutional progress (see paragraphs above). It will simply be used to see where the institution is at this point in time, a year from now, and another year from now. It is a tool to assess developmental progress of institutions. The Commission will use the analysis of the aggregate results to gauge the progress of its member institutions over time. Evaluation teams will use the report as background information to their evaluation work.
However, a college or college system can use the completed form to get a more exact sense of where it is in the process of full implementation. Institutional leaders may be able to use this form to evaluate progress over time.
Q. How should a college fill out the form?
Institutions should accurately and honestly report where they are. An institution that began working with Student Learning Outcomes at the programmatic level may not be able to answer, yet, the questions about implementation at the course or degree level. But eventually, when the work is "done," an institution should be able to answer all or most of the questions.
This should not take a lot of work. Curriculum committees, program or department chairs, and deans should be able to tell the person filling out the form what has been done. Institutions should not rush to "do" the steps in student learning outcomes work that the form implies, but should just report on where they are in their work at this point in time.
Q. What other new reporting requirements does the Commission expect to have?
Institutions can expect that the Department of Education-through the negotiated rulemaking sessions this spring, through the Higher Education Act that will probably be adopted this year, or through its recognition process for accreditors-will be trying to impose new reporting requirements on accreditors and institutions. We do not yet know what these will be, but the areas of likely impact are:
- Student Learning Assessment and Levels of Learning
- Transfer of Credit policies and decisions made by a college in considering transfer
- Distance education offerings, programs, and quality assurance
- Quality assurance of off-campus sites or additional locations
- Information about the outcomes of students completing vocational/technical and career-oriented programs
Any additional questions about the Annual Report form can be directed to the Commission offices via email at accjc@accjc.org |
