Student Learning Assessment and the

Open Pathway Accreditation Process

Presentation to IIT FacultySpring 2013

Role of the NCAHLC

NCAHLC is voluntary association of institutions of higher education whose mission is to serve the common good by assuring and advancing the quality of higher learning.

Era of Increased Government Scrutiny

• Examples:– The Spelling Report– Federal re-definition of a credit hour, – Gainful employment requirements

• Message: – If you don’t assure high quality

outcomes, the Federal Government will step in and tell you what to teach.

Pathways to Accreditation

Stan

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Pathways to Accreditation

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AQU

IP

Pathways to Accreditation

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AQU

IP

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Goals of Open Pathway Process

Quality Assurance

Quality Improvement

Open Pathway Requirementsay

• Quality Improvement Initiative • Interim review in Year 4• All electronic– Evidence file– Assurance Argument

• Tight relationship between Assurance Argument and evidentiary items

IIT’s Open Pathway Schedule

Year 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17

Pathway Cycle Year 6 Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 10

Assurance Process

Establish an internal structure & processes for gathering evidence

Institution may contribute documents to HLC Online Evidence File

Assurance Argument Filed

Assurance Review (with Site Visit)

Improvement Process

Quality Improvement Initiative Proposal Filed

Quality Improvement Initiative Proposal Reviewed

Quality Improvement Initiative Report Filed

Quality Improvement Initiative Report Reviewed

Commission Action Action to re-affirm Accreditation

New Criteria Final version approved by HLC

Board

Effective for all members 1/1/13

Other Monitoring

The Commission will continue to review data submitted by affiliated institutions through the Annual Institutional Update (AIDU), will apply change processes as appropriate to planned institutional developments, and will monitor institutions through reports, visits, and other means as it deems appropriate.

We Have Three Inter-related Tasks

Evidence File &

Assurance ArgumentQuality

Improvement Initiative

Culture of Continuous Assessment

&Improvement

Culture of Continuous Assessment and Improvement

Building a Culture of Continuous Assessment & Improvement

• Build on specialized accreditation activities

• Establish sustainable assessment processes

• Use assessment data to improve academic programs

• Share best practices across the university

Process to Support Assessment

Learni

ng1. Identify Program Learning Goals

2. Develop a Curriculum Map

3. Identify benchmarks for “success”4. Design objective measures

5. Collect data

6. Analyze the data

7. Use results to improve program

Curriculum Map

How Can Faculty Help?

• Familiarize yourself with the HLC Accreditation Criteria

• Willingly participate in student learning assessment

• Use Blackboard for all your courses

• Use assessment data to continuously improve your courses and programs of study

Questions?