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What is the difference between HLC and NCA?
Some of the people who have been employed for ten years or more at Morningside may remember the visitors from the NCA in 1994. Now we are talking about HLC … what’s the difference?
The North Central Association was founded in 1895 as a membership organization for educational institutions. It is committed to developing and maintaining high standards of excellence. One of six regional accredit ting agencies, the NCA includes members (educational institutions) from the following states: Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, New Mexico, South Dakota, Wisconsin, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
A few years ago, The North Central Association decided to re-examine its purpose and procedures and concluded that it would work more efficiently if divided into two commissions. Consequently, it reorganized itself in 2001, amended its bylaws, and restructured its board of directors. The NCA still exists, but it is subdivided into two working “arms” or commissions: The Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement focuses on K-12 schools while The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) is charged with working with colleges, universities and other post-secondary institutions.
The Higher Learning Commission (the group with which we work) provides resources to member colleges and coordinates exchange of information with other organizations focused on college teaching and learning. They are our accreditation body.
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Why does Morningside College need to be accredited by the Higher Learning Commission?
Accreditation is required for students at a college or university to be eligible for state and federal financial aid. Where would our students be with financial aid?!
Students – and their parents – are more confident in the quality of education they receive from an accredited institution. HLC accreditation provides public assurance that Morningside has met the standards of acceptable institutional quality.
Faculty and staff also may hesitate to accept employment at an institution of higher learning that is not accredited. Institutional accreditation indicates reason to believe that the institution will continue to meet standards of acceptable quality.
Without work at accredited institutions, students are very limited in their choice of graduate and professional programs. Institutional accreditation validates overall quality of the institution without focusing on any one specific program. Some programs – such as Nursing, Education, or Music – may have additional specialized or programmatic accreditation. That kind of accreditation is different from HLC review.
The accreditation process also provides opportunity and incentive for self-evaluation; it helps identify areas of strength and areas that would benefit from improvement. As we prepare our self-study report, we will realize that we have strengths that may be taken for granted on a day-to-day basis. In addition, we may highlight some weaknesses that have previously been overlooked. Regular self-assessment is one good way to continue to improve the ways we serve out students within the resources available to us.
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How does the accreditation review process work?
Morningside College experienced its initial review and achieved accreditation some time ago. As a member of the Higher Learning Commission, we are responsible to host periodic reviews, pay dues and fees, and submit periodic reports.
We are now preparing for one of those periodic reviews. (The last time representatives of the North Central Association visited our campus was spring 1994.) Our first task is to conduct a self-study to determine how we are continuing to meet the General Institutional Requirements (GIRs) and the 5 Criteria. We have organized a steering committee to oversee the work of numerous subcommittees made up of energetic faculty, staff and students. The results of the self-study will be summarized in a self-study report that will be sent to our team of consultant-evaluators about a month before they arrive on campus.
The consultant evaluators will be on our campus for two or three days in February 2004. They will interview students, staff and faculty; they will examine the supporting documents related to the Self-Study Report that we will have organized in an Evidence Room. They may visit classes. After they leave, the will prepare a Team Report which summarizes their findings. A Team Report is their outside assessment of how we are meeting the GIRs and Criteria as well as advice and suggestions for improvements.
The Team Report is reviewed by our liason at the Higher Learning Commission and sent to us for comment. We can point out any errors of fact and provide more information if we feel the team overlooked something during their visit. The final draft of the Team Report is reviewed by the Accreditation Review Council, the Institutional Action Council, and the Board of Trustees of the Higher Learning Commission if necessary.
One or two months after the site visit, we will receive the final Team Report and learn the results of the review. Options include continued accreditation for ten years, continued accreditation for a shorter time with a scheduled return ‘focus’ visit, or probation.
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Who are the Consultant-Evaluators (C-Es)?
C-Es are our peers, educators from other educational institutions who dedicate part of their time to the evaluation process, ‘to serve the common good’. Their efforts help us validate our views of our institution and bring suggestions for ways we can continue to improve the service we offer our students.
Those individuals who are interested in becoming C-Es – college presidents, chief financial officers, faculty and student services personnel – apply and are selected according to the following criteria:
1.possess appropriate experience and accomplishments to contribute judgment and expertise to the accreditation process
2.contribute to the variety of professional competencies, institutional homes and geographic regions in the C-E Corps
3. are willing and able to give the time and energy necessary for a smooth accreditation process
New C-Es attend intense training sessions at the HLC Annual Meeting – at least their first two years and frequently thereafter if they serve as team chairs – to polish their skills and keep up-to-date on changes and trends in accreditation. Each C-E participates in one or two site visits annually. Each visit includes time before the campus visit to read the self-study and learn about the institution, the days spent on campus, and time after the campus visit as they process what they have learned and contribute to the team report.
They are people like us who are interested in student learning and achievements! They will focus their attention on our Self-Study Report and evidence we place in a Resource Room on campus, but they will also meet with us in groups and individually during the campus visit.
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When will faculty, staff and students get to see the Self-Study Report?
You’ve been hearing a lot about the Self-Study lately, and you may be wondering when the constituents of Morningside College will get to see the Self-Study Report. Our timeline has been revised slightly due to Subcommittees working at different paces and due to the press of other work, but we expect to ‘catch-up’ this summer.
August 25 – Each subcommittee will submit a rough draft to the Co-Chairs. Steve Nimmo and I will prepare a ‘sneak peak’ extended outline for the Board members for their spring meeting.
The Steering Committee will then read all subcommittee reports to identify redundancies and ‘gaps’. Subcommittees will continue to work on their chapters, making changes reached by consensus of the Steering Committee, blending documents from 7 subcommittees into one unified document – draft one.
July 1 – We expect to send the draft to an outside editor. This person will look for coherence, point out places where we assumed ‘insider’ knowledge, and suggest mechanical changes that help the Self-Study to speak in ‘one voice’.
August 15 – Changes suggested by the outside editor and approved by the Steering Committee will be incorporated into draft two. This draft and an executive summary will be made available for all college constituents. In September, the Co-chairs will organize focus groups to gather responses from faculty, staff, students, alumni and board members, as well as our HLC liason.
Finally, the Steering Committee will decide on final corrections and changes in consideration of the input from the college constituents. The final Self-Study report will then be printed and sent by mail to the team of Consultant-Evaluators who will come to our campus February 23 -25, 2004. The same report will be posted on-line for all of you to see the final product.
NOTE: More FAQs will be sent later. If anyone has questions, please direct them to Mary Leida or Steve Nimmo, Co-Chairs for the Self-Study.
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