TFR Accreditation Standards SixThemes (3) 2009-08-18TVT

ACCJC Accreditation
Standards
The Six Themes
Todd V. Titterud
Revised 08/18/2009
http://thefollowupreport.blogspot.com/
The Follow-Up Report https://sites.google.com/site/thefollowupreport/
The Six Themes
Six themes of quality are embedded throughout the

2002 Accreditation Standards:
z Institutional Commitments
z Evaluation, Planning, and Improvement
z Student Learning Outcomes
z Organization
z Dialogue
z Institutional Integrity
Accreditation Themes 2
The Six Themes [Continued]
z The themes pervade the Accreditation Standards

– Each theme is threaded through all the standards
z The themes provide guidance and structure
– For self-reflective dialogue
– For the evaluation of institutional effectiveness
z The themes provide a basis for a summative
assessment of the institution
– A framework for viewing how well the institution is
working as a whole
1: Institutional Commitments
The Follow-Up Report

Institutional Commitments
The standards ask institutions to make a commitment

in action to providing a high quality education
congruent with the institution’s mission
– The commitments of an institution is measured by
its actions
– Institutional integrity under the standards requires
that the actions match the words
– The Commission evaluates institutional practices
relative to the stated mission
Institutional Commitments [Continued]
The theme is first expressed in Standard I, which calls for

a robust institutional mission statement that reflects the
intended student population:
– The mission must emphasize student learning achievement
– The college must demonstrate a strong commitment to the
mission and to communicating it internally and externally
– The college must verify and improve the accomplishment of
the mission through the analysis of quantitative and
qualitative data as part of an ongoing systematic cycle of
evaluation, planning, implementation, and re-evaluation.
Throughout the standards, the Commission asks that

institutions insure consistency between the mission
statement and institutional goals and plans
– The over 20 references to the college mission in the
standards demonstrate the emphasize on actions
being derived from institutional commitments
– The college needs to ensure that the mission is
more than a mere statement of ideals, desires, or
intent
– The college must demonstrate that the mission
provides the foundation for institutional planning and
guides institutional actions
The standards require an institution to commit to

supporting student learning as its primary mission.
– Instruction, learning and student learning outcomes
(SLOs) are referenced throughout the standards
– These references are designed to guide the
institutional commitment to student learning.
– The standards’ require that the entire institution
participate in reviewing institutional performance and
developing plans for improving SLOs
– The requirement is intended to help the institution
sustain its commitment to student learning.
z Finally, the standards require an institution to regularly

review its mission statement and its fulfillment
– The institution must periodically reflect on its mission
statement, adapt it as needed, and renew its
commitment to achieving the mission.
– The institution must periodically assess its
effectiveness in fulfilling its commitments through
data analysis and demonstrate continued
commitment by enacting changes to increase its
effectiveness
– See Evaluation, Planning, and Improvement
2: Evaluation, Planning,
and Improvement

Evaluation, Planning, and Improvement
The standards require ongoing institutional evaluation

and improvement to help serve students better.
– There are over 70 references in the standards
concerned with assessment, research, planning,
and improvement in the standards
– The standards are actually an Organizational
Development model designed to change
community colleges from “institutions of learning”
into “Learning Institutions” dedicated to achieving
Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) through
Action Research
[Continued]
Evaluation under the standards focuses on student

achievement, student learning, and the effectiveness
of processes, policies, and organization.
Student
Achievement Processes
Evaluation Student
Learning Policies
Institutional
Effectiveness Organization
Improvement under the standards is achieved

through an ongoing and systematic cycle of
evaluation, integrated planning, implementation, and
re-evaluation
Integrated
Evaluation Implementation
Planning
The planning cycle begins with evaluation of student

needs and college programs and services.
Student
Needs
Evaluation College
Programs
College
Services
This evaluation in turn informs college decisions

about where it needs to improve, and the college
identifies improvement goals campus-wide.
Student
Needs College
Decisions on
Evaluation College Improvement
Programs Needs and
Goals
College
Services
[Continued]
Resources are distributed in order to implement these

goals. When resources are insufficient to support
improvement goals, the college adjusts its resource
decisions to reflect its priorities or seeks other means of
supplying resources to meet its goals.
Allocation Priorities
Improvement Resource Implementation

Goals Distribution Plans
New Resources
[Continued]
After improvement plans have been fully implemented

– Their outcomes are measured and
– Their goal achievement is evaluated
Implement Measure Evaluate

Plan Outcomes Achievements
Thus, the planning cycle required by the standards

consists of evaluation, goal setting, resource
distribution, implementation, and reevaluation.
Evaluation
Implementation The Planning Cycle Goal Setting
Resource
Distribution
3: Student Learning Outcomes

Student Learning Outcomes
The development of Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)

is one of the key themes in the 2002 Standards
– The phrase “Student Learning Outcomes” occurs 15
times in the standards,
– To clarify the importance of SLOs, the Commission
highlighted over 50 references to instruction, learning
and SLOs within the standards.
– To demonstrate institutional commitment to student
learning, the standards’ require the entire institution to
participate in reviewing institutional performance and
developing plans for improving SLOs
Student Learning Outcomes [Continued]
The theme has to do with the institution consciously

and robustly demonstrating the effectiveness of its
efforts to produce and support student learning by
developing SLOs at the course, program, and
degree level.
Degree/Institutional SLOs
Program SLOs
Course SLOs
This demonstration of effectiveness requires that

learning outcomes be measured and assessed to
determine how well learning is occurring so that
changes to improve learning and teaching can be
made.
Integrated Degree/Institutional SLOs
Assessment
SLO Alignment
Program SLOs
Course SLOs
It requires that faculty engage in discussions of ways

to deliver instruction to maximize student learning.
– See Dialogue
It requires that those providing student support

services develop student learning outcomes and
evaluate the quality of their policies, processes, and
procedures for providing students access and
movement through the institution.
– See Evaluation, Planning, and Improvement
It requires that student learning outcomes be at

the center of the institution’s key processes and
allocation of resources.
– Thecollege must demonstrate that planning
and budgeting decisions are determined by
their intended positive effect on SLOs
Staffing Planned
Decisions Expenditures
SLOs
Organizational Policies and
Design Procedures
Ultimately, this theme requires that an institution

engage in self-analysis leading to improvement of
all that it does regarding learning and teaching.
– Constantly repeating cycles of research,
analysis, planning, and action to improve SLOs
and achieve...
Continuous
Quality
Improvement
4: Organization

Organization
The standards require colleges to have inclusive,

informed and intentional efforts to define student
learning, provide programs to support that learning,
and to evaluate how well learning is occurring.
– Everyone will work to knowledgably define,
support, and evaluate student learning
– Programs are organized to adequately support
the defined student learning
– Programs are organized to competently evaluate
the quality and effectiveness of student learning
Organization [Continued]
This requirement means that the institution must have in

place the organizational means to identify and make public
the learning outcomes, to evaluate the effectiveness of
programs in producing those outcomes, and to make
improvements.
Identify and make
public...
Existing Student
organizational Evaluate effectiveness of Learning
means to... programs in producing... Outcomes
Make improvements in...
This requirement for adequate staff, resources and

organizational structure (communication and
decision making structures) is not new to
accreditation standards, but the new expectation is
that these be oriented to produce and support
student learning.
Staff,
Resources,
and Student
Produce and Support
Organizational Learning
Structure
Consequently, they will be evaluated in part by how

well they support learning.
Adequacy of... Support of...
Staff
Evaluate Student
Resources Learning
Organizational
Structure
5: Dialogue

Dialogue
The standards are designed to facilitate college

engagement in inclusive, informed, and intentional
dialogue about institutional quality and improvement.
The dialogue should purposefully guide institutional

change.
Purposeful
Institutional
Informed Dialogue Guides
Stakeholders’ Change
Dialogue [Continued]
All members of the college community should

participate in this reflection and exchange about
student achievement, student learning, and the
effectiveness of its processes, policies, and
organization.
Student Achievement
Student Learning
Organization
Dialogue Processes
Staff Policies
Faculty about
Students
Managers
For the dialogue to have its intended effect, it should be based on

reliable information about the college’s programs and services and
evidence on how well the institution is meeting student needs.
Information should be quantitative and qualitative, responsive to a
clear inquiry, meaningfully interpreted, and broadly
communicated.
Widely Shared
Research Findings
Validated Evidence Informs Dialogue
SLO Assessments
Program Reviews
The institutional dialogue should result in ongoing self-

reflection and conscious improvement.
– Continuing, evidence-based, and collegiate
dialogues directed toward improving student
outcomes and institutional effectiveness lead to
continuous quality improvement
Dialogue Resulting In
6: Institutional Integrity

Institutional Integrity
This theme deals with the institution’s demonstrated

concern with honesty, truthfulness, and the manner
by which it represents itself to all stakeholders,
internal and external. This theme speaks to the
intentions of an institution as well as to how it carries
them out.
– College communications with students,
employees, vendors, and the public are honest,
accurate, and appropriate
– Communications and records are never intended
to mislead or obscure
Institutional Integrity [Continued]
It prompts institutional assessment of the integrity of

its policies, practices, and procedures and to how it
treats students, employees, and its publics.
– The college evaluates its own actions, policies,
and procedures to ensure they are consistent with
the intent to treat all stakeholders honestly, fairly,
and without discrimination, to maintain accurate
and appropriate records, and to communicate
clearly and honestly
It asks that the institution concern itself with the clarity,

understandability, accessibility, and appropriateness of
its publications; that its faculty provide for open inquiry
in their classes as well as student grades that reflect an
honest appraisal of student performance against faculty
standards. It has an expectation of academic honesty on
the part of students.
– Publications are clear, accurate, and accessible
– Academic freedom is practiced in the classrooms
– Grades are legitimate measures of actual student
performance and achievement
It requires that the institution demonstrate regard for

issues of equity and diversity.
– The college values equity and diversity and takes
documented actions to support them
It encourages the institution to look at its hiring and

employment practices as well as to its relationship with
the Commission and other external agencies.
– The college assesses the treatment of internal and
external stakeholders to ensure it follows the
professed values and commitments of the institution
Finally, it expects that an institution be self-reflective

and honest with itself in all its operations.
– Institutional assessments and evaluations are
factual, thoughtful, and accurate
– They are not superficial, evasive, misleading, or
self-serving
– Assessments and evaluations are part of the
inclusive, cooperative, and collegial dialogue to
continuously improve student learning outcomes
and fulfill institutional commitments
The Six Themes
Evaluation
Institutional Planning
Commitments Improvement
ACCJC Student
Learning
Institutional Accreditation Outcomes
Integrity Standards
Dialogue Organization
References
z Guide to Evaluating Institutions, Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior
Colleges WASC, August 2008.
http://www.accjc.org/pdf/Guide_to_Evaluation_Institutions_August_2008.pdf
z Accreditation Reference Handbook, Accrediting Commission for Community and

Junior Colleges WASC, August 2008.
http://www.accjc.org/pdf/Accreditation_Reference_Manual_August_2008.pdf
z Accreditation Standards Annotated for Continuous Quality Improvement and SLOs,

Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges WASC, January 2006.
http://www.accjc.org/pdf/Standards_Annotated_for_Boards_CQI_and_SLOs.pdf
z ACCJC Accreditation and Executive Leadership Workshop, Annual Convention and

Partner Conferences of the Community College League of California, Costa Mesa,
CA, November 2006.
Copies of this presentation may be downloaded from The Follow-Up Report Press:
http://thefollowupreport.blogspot.com/

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ACCJC Accreditation

The Six Themes

Six themes of quality are embedded throughout the

z The themes pervade the Accreditation Standards

The Follow-Up Report

The standards ask institutions to make a commitment

The theme is first expressed in Standard I, which calls for

Throughout the standards, the Commission asks that

The standards require an institution to commit to

z Finally, the standards require an institution to regularly

The Follow-Up Report

The standards require ongoing institutional evaluation

Evaluation under the standards focuses on student

Improvement under the standards is achieved

The planning cycle begins with evaluation of student

This evaluation in turn informs college decisions

Resources are distributed in order to implement these

Improvement Resource Implementation

After improvement plans have been fully implemented

Implement Measure Evaluate

Thus, the planning cycle required by the standards

Implementation The Planning Cycle Goal Setting

The Follow-Up Report

The development of Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)

The theme has to do with the institution consciously

This demonstration of effectiveness requires that

It requires that faculty engage in discussions of ways

It requires that those providing student support

It requires that student learning outcomes be at

Ultimately, this theme requires that an institution

The Follow-Up Report

The standards require colleges to have inclusive,

This requirement means that the institution must have in

Make improvements in...

This requirement for adequate staff, resources and

Consequently, they will be evaluated in part by how

The Follow-Up Report

The standards are designed to facilitate college

The dialogue should purposefully guide institutional

All members of the college community should

For the dialogue to have its intended effect, it should be based on

The institutional dialogue should result in ongoing self-

The Follow-Up Report

This theme deals with the institution’s demonstrated

It prompts institutional assessment of the integrity of

It asks that the institution concern itself with the clarity,

It requires that the institution demonstrate regard for

It encourages the institution to look at its hiring and

Finally, it expects that an institution be self-reflective

z Accreditation Reference Handbook, Accrediting Commission for Community and

z Accreditation Standards Annotated for Continuous Quality Improvement and SLOs,

z ACCJC Accreditation and Executive Leadership Workshop, Annual Convention and

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