Accreditation is a form of peer review for higher education institutions, an important means of ensuring and signaling to the public an institution’s academic quality, organizational effectiveness, and sustainability. There are six regional nongovernmental associations in the U.S. that accredit colleges and universities. St. Olaf falls within the purview of the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) of the North Central Association (NCA), whose members include nineteen different states stretching from Arizona to West Virginia. The College must seek reaccreditation every ten years. St. Olaf was most recently reaccredited in 2003.
Accrediting associations have been important contributors to the development of a “culture of evidence” on college campuses, and the North Central Association is no exception. Assessment was first introduced into NCA’s criteria for accreditation more than fifteen years ago. NCA revised its criteria in 2003, and these revisions have made the organization’s commitment to assessment as a means to sustain and improve student learning clearer, stronger and more pervasive than ever.
In seeking reaccreditation in 2003, St. Olaf completed a “special emphasis self-study,” with specific chapters dedicated to a variety of topics with particular significance for college well-being at that point in time. One of these chapters addressed the College’s program of assessment. After reviewing the self-study and making a site visit, the NCA Higher Learning Commission granted the College’s request for reaccreditation, but indicated that our assessment program “requires institutional attention and Commission follow-up.” The Commission’s report provided specific feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of our efforts, and concluded by requiring the College to provide a written progress report on our assessment program to the Commission in January 2007.
It would be easy to dismiss assessment simply as a burdensome bureaucratic exercise required to “pass” accreditation. But such a dismissal would misrepresent both the role of accreditation and the potential of assessment for institutional improvement. Accreditation does not signify what “they” require of “us;” rather, because accrediting organizations are membership organizations providing peer review, accreditation signifies what we expect of ourselves. And assessment, at least at St. Olaf, is conceptualized not merely as dead-end data collection, but as a form of inquiry in support of student learning with implications for educational policy and practice. After all, the only real alternative to assessment is evidence-free educational decision making.
Below are links with additional information about accreditation in relation to assessment.
NCA Higher Learning Commission Overview of Institutional Accreditation
NCA Higher Learning Commission Criteria for Accreditation
NCA Higher Learning Commission Statement on Student Learning, Assessment, and Accreditation
Assessment progress report to NCA Higher Learning Commission - February 2007
NCA Higher Learning Commission requirements for next assessment progress report in January 2010
Assessment chapter in 2003 reaccreditation self-study – Executive summary
Assessment chapter in 2003 reaccreditation self-study – Full text
