A PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR FIRST TIME CHAIRS OF DECENNIAL REVIEWS

Charles CaramelloAssociate Provost and Dean of the Graduate SchoolUniversity of MarylandDecember 9, 2010

OVERVIEW

1. Accepting the Assignment2. Planning the Review3. Preliminary and Team Visits4. Leading a Successful Team5. The Team Review Report6. A Final Note

1. ACCEPTING THE ASSIGNMENT

PRINCIPLES

The chair and team must take a comprehensive view, addressing all aspects of institutional performance in both breadth and depth.

The chair and team must honor the mission of the reviewed institution, not substitute the missions of their home institutions.

The chair and team must base their finding on evidence that, again, is interpreted in the context of the institution’s mission.

Finally, and most important, the chair and team members are colleagues conducting peer review, not bureaucrats policing regulations.

COMMITMENT

KEY ELEMENTS

• Respect for institutional effort and belief in value of peer review• Engagement in complex, lengthy, and challenging process and product• Substantial investment of time, personal attention, and resources

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Learning and understanding MSCHE standards and decennial review process• Reviewing and critiquing institution’s self-study design • Leading team: ensuring that members understand roles and fulfill responsibilities• Working closely with institution on coordination of duties, visits, and event logistics• Organizing, editing, and presenting team report and chair’s confidential brief

STAFF SUPPORT

• Dedicated staff support critical for success of project• Staff coordinates with institution, review team, MSCHE• Staff manages communications, responsibilities and tasks, scheduling and logistics

TIMELINELATE SUMMER

Chair (C) appointed.Team (TM) assembled.

Institution (INST) creates self-study design, compiles review

documents.Dates determined.

FALLC/TM attend training workshops.

C reviews self-study design.C/INST prepare for preliminary

visit.C makes preliminary visit

(C/INST).

WINTER C/INST prepare for team visit.

INST sends Self-Study Report and materials to C.

C/TM review all INST and MSCHE materials.

EARLY SPRINGC assigns review tasks to TM and

prepares TM for visit.TM draft report sections,

formulate questions.C/INST finalize visit logistics,

create detailed schedule.

SPRING TM visits INST.

C/TM complete report.C presents report to INST.

C/TM finalize report for INST and MSCHE.

INST responds to report .

SUMMERC submits evaluations of TM.C submits Confidential Brief.

C makes presentation to MSCHE in Philadelphia.

MSCHE reports to INST.

RELATIONSHIPS

THE INSTITUT

ION

THE

TEAM

GOAL: Advancin

g the Institutio

nTHE

COMMISSION

2. PLANNING THE REVIEW

ESTABLISHING RELATIONSHIPS

Chair• Ensures that self-study,

review, and report cover all MSCHE standards.

• Leads collaborative team review with consensus on recommendations.

• Works with institution and MSCHE on all aspects of review process.

Institution• Works with chair on initial

stages of self-study report• Arranges and hosts

preliminary and team visits• Accommodates requests

for interview and other meetings

• Engages with chair and MSCHE on post-visit review matters.

Team Members• Read whole self-study

report, write parts of review report, collaborate on final report.

• Develop questions to help shape meetings, discussions, and report.

• Shape team dynamic, working together intensively during team visit and often improvising.

Establishing professional and collegial relationships is critical to success.

KEY PLAYERS IN PLANNING

CHAIR

Chair• Coordinating with INST and MSCHE.• Coordinating with TM.

Staff Support• Scheduling with INST and C/TM.• Organizing and forwarding materials from INST to C to TM. • Working with INST to refine visit schedule.• Assembling final dossiers for TM visit.

FLOW OF COMMUNICATION

Institution

Commission

Team Members

Chair

3. PRELIMINARY AND TEAM VISITS

CHAIR’S PRELIMINARY VISIT

Before the Visit

• Chair reviews institution’s self-study design.• Team Members are selected.• Chairs/Team attend orientation.• Chair receives and reviews draft self-study report. • Chair and Institution prepare preliminary visit agenda and schedule.

During the Visit

• Chair meets with key administrators and self-study steering committee.• Chair tours meeting facilities and hotel.• Chair provides feedback on draft self-study report.

THE TEAM VISIT

DAY THREEChair meets with PresidentHalf Day of MeetingsAfternoon Writing SessionTeam Dinner: Discussion and RecommendationsRevised Section Reports Due to Chair

DAY FOURFinal Section Reports Due to ChairChair Prepares Oral Summary of ReportTeam Lunch: Oral SummaryChair Presents Oral SummaryTeam Departs CampusChair Begins Final Editing of Report

THE TEAM VISIT

4. LEADING A SUCCESSFUL TEAM

BEFORE TEAM VISIT

• Attend workshop and orientation• Read all MSCHE booklets• Read all institution documents

Team Members Prepare

• Chair sends welcome memo with instructions and provisional assignments for review and report

• Chair holds introductory conference call on overall review • Chair contacts team members individually to discuss

assignments

Chair Works with Team

• Chair sends guidelines for draft sections of preliminary report

• Members send draft sections (3-5 pages per standard) and interview questions to chair

• Chair sends full preliminary report and all questions to team

The Report

• Institution sends team transportation information• Chair sends team information regarding hotel, meals,

attire, IT, final schedule, etc. Logistics

DURING TEAM VISIT• Team members should conduct individual interviews and group meetings on their

assigned standards and attend open meetings on matters of interest to the institutional community.

• Team members should use questions developed before the visit to guide interviews and meetings and should developadditional questions as the visit progresses.

• The chair and full team should should conduct two large group meetings, dedicated to Standards 7 and 14, with key institutional leaders.

• The chair and team should meet in closed session at least once daily.

• The chair should be available to meet with individual team members to discuss any challenges or concerns.

• The daily schedule should incorporate 15-30 minute breaks so team members can communicate with their home offices.

• The oral presentation to the institution warrants full team attendance.

AFTER TEAM VISIT

CHAIR

• Completes editing of Team Report• Shares final Report with Team• Consults with institution to correct any

factual errors• Submits final Team Report to institution

and MSCHE• Submits team member evaluations• Writes and submits Confidential Brief• Presentation at MSCHE meeting in

Philadelphia

TEAM MEMBERS

• Submit evaluation of Team Chair• Answer any questions from Chair

requiring clarification for Report

5. THE TEAM REVIEW REPORT

ASSIGNING SECTIONS OF THE REPORT

Make assignments by distributing MSCHE standards.

Review each team member’s administrative expertise and experience and assign standards appropriately.

Take care to assign Standards 2 and 3 (resources and resource allocation) to a member with significant budgetary experience.

Pay particular attention to Institutional Effectiveness Assessment

and Student Learning Assessment, and assign Standards 7 and 14 to an

experienced team member only.

DRAFTING THE REPORT• Review the entire Self-Study Report and supplementary

materials, with particular focus on assigned standards.• Read Characteristics of Excellence, with focus on assigned

standards, for clear and specific evaluation criteria.• Draft preliminary report sections on assigned standards

(3-5 pages per standard).• Prepare two lists of questions: one set on Self-Study

Report as a whole, and one set on assigned standards.

Team Members

• Specify conceptual, stylistic, and technical guidelines for preliminary drafts.

• Set pre-visit deadline for drafts and pre-visit turnaround date.

• Urge TMs to review the full team draft report prior to visit.

• Moderate discussion of full draft team report and submitted questions at team meeting on first day of visit.

Chair

• Collate individual draft reports into one document and send to team several days in advance of team visit.

• FedEx a package to each TM in advance of visit, including collated full team draft report and questions (hard copies and thumb-drives), institutional and team contact information, blank interview sign-in sheets, etc.

Chair’s Staff Support

EDITING THE REPORT• Team should arrive at visit with a full and carefully drafted preliminary team report. • Team members also should be prepared to do extensive rewriting on site.• Chairs should be prepared to do substantial additional rewriting and editing on site.

• Why should Chair and Team come prepared? • A fully prepared chair and team, with fully drafted preliminary report, make for a more successful,

productive, and pleasant visit.

• Why should team members rewrite extensively on site?• Questions will be answered, ambiguities will be clarified, and new information will emerge.• Documentary materials and interviews are fresh in everyone’s mind.• All parties, including Institutional Steering Committee, are present for consultation. • A preliminary draft is rough; a penultimate draft is polished. • At the conclusion of the site visit, the team member’s responsibilities end.

• Why should chair do more rewriting and editing?• Extensively and individually written draft sections must become a concise document.• Team members have different “voices” and writing styles that must be made to cohere.• This draft of report will be the basis for the oral presentation.• The more work completed on site, the less work to be completed at home.

PRESENTING THE ORAL REPORT

• Respect the institution’s seriousness of purpose, its achievements, and its concerns.

• Treat the occasion with appropriate circumstance: it is both substantive and ceremonial.

• Be clear and concise, but neither simple nor terse.

• Speak from a prepared script, not off the cuff; resist embellishment or improvisation.

• Reveal all that MSCHE allows and nothing that it proscribes.

ATTENDING THE MSCHE MEETING

• Consult with the vice-president assigned to your review before the meeting, and heed his or her counsel during the meeting.

• Prepare a thorough but concise oral presentation for the committee; do not summarize the entire report or otherwise ramble.

• Participate fully in discussions of other institutions being reviewed in the same session.

• Be rigorous in assessments and candid in comments.

6. A FINAL NOTE

OPPORTUNITIESIndividual Impact: Opportunity for individual professional development and networking.

Campus Impact: Opportunity for learning MSCHE review processes and improving home institution’s self study.