West Chester University Review by

the Middle States Commission on Higher

Education (MSCHE)

What is MSCHE?

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.

Accreditation assures that 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.

It’s a cyclical thing

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.

Organizational Structure of the WCU self-study process

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

Accreditation StandardsInstitutional Context

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

Accreditation StandardsEducational Effectiveness

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

Purpose of the Self-Study Process

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

Communicating the Self-Study Report

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.

Evaluation Team Site Visit

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

Conclusions and Recommendatio

ns

Distributed Leadership

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.

Budget Process 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.

Institutional Assessment

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.

Academic Advising Improve academic advising

for all students (undergraduate, graduate, transfer, and nondegree).

Faculty Development

Ensure sufficient support for faculty scholarship and teaching.

What can you do?

Read (at least some of) the self-study 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