WASC Criteria for Review

Associated with each WASC Standard are Criteria for Review (CFR), intended to identify key areas for review of each Standard. Criteria for Review are meant to support basic decisions about accreditation and thus enable the Commission to render an effective judgment of the performance of an institution.

WASC Criteria for Review

Institutional Purposes

1.1 The institution’s formally approved statements of purpose and operational practices are appropriate for an
institution of higher education and clearly define its essential values and character.

1.2 Educational objectives are clearly recognized throughout the institution and are consistent with stated purposes.
The institution has developed indicators and evidence to ascertain the level of achievement of its purposes and edu-
cational objectives.

1.3 The institution’s leadership creates and sustains leadership system at all levels that is marked by high performance, appropriate responsibility, and accountability.

Integrity

1.4 The institution publicly states its commitment to academic freedom for faculty, staff, and students, and acts
accordingly. This commitment affirms that those in the academy are free to share their convictions and responsible conclusions with their colleagues and students in their teaching and in their writing.

1.5 Consistent with its purposes and character,the institution demonstrates an appropriate response to the increasing diversity in society through its policies, its educational and co-curricular programs, and its administrative and organizational practices.

1.6. Even when supported by or ffiliated with political, corporate,or religious organizations, the institution has education as its primary purpose and operates as an academic institution with appropriate autonomy.

1.7 The institution truthfully represents its academic goals, programs,and services to students and to the larger public; demonstrates that its academic programs can be completed in a timely fashion;and treats students fairly and equitably through established policies and procedures addressing student conduct,grievances,human subjects in research, and refunds.

1.8 The institution exhibits integrity in its operations as demonstrated by the implementation of appropriate policies, sound business practices, timely and fair responses to complaints and grievances, and regular evaluation of its performance in these areas.

1.9 The institution is committed to honest and open communication with the Accrediting Commission, to undertaking the accreditation review process with seriousness and candor,and to abiding by Commission policies and procedures,including all substantive change policies.

Teaching and Learning

2.1. The institution’s educational programs are appropriate in content, standards, and nomenclature for the degree level
awarded, regardless of mode of delivery, and are staffed by sufficient numbers of faculty qualified for the type and level of curriculum offered.

2.2 All degrees - undergraduate and graduate - awarded by the institution are clearly defined in terms of entry-level
requirements and in terms of levels of student achieve ment necessary for graduation that represent more than simply an accumulation of courses or credits.

2.3 The institution’s expectations for learning and student attainment are clearly reflected in its academic programs and policies.These include the organization and content of the institution’s curricula;admissions and graduation policies; the organization and delivery of advisement; the use of its library and information resources; and (where applicable) experience in the wider learning environment provided by the campus and/or co-curriculum.

2.4 The institution’s expectations for learning and student attainment are developed and widely shared among its members (including faculty,students,staff,and where appropriate,external stakeholders). The institution ’s faculty takes collective responsibility for establishing, reviewing, fostering, and demonstrating the attainment of these expectations.

2.5 The institution’s academic programs actively involve students in learning, challenge them to achieve high expectations, and provide them with appropriate and ongoing feedback about their performance and how it can be improved.

2.6 The institution demonstrates that its graduates consistently achieve its stated levels of attainment and ensures that its expectations for student learning are embedded in the standards faculty use to evaluate student work.

2.7 In order to improve program currency and effectiveness, all programs offered by the institution are subject to review, including analyses of the achievement of the program’s learning objectives and outcomes. Where appropriate, evidence from external constituencies such as employers and professional societies is included in such reviews.

Scholarship and Creative Activity

2.8. The institution actively values and promotes scholarship, curricular and instructional innovation, and creative activity, as well as their dissemination at levels and of the kinds appropriate to the institution’s purposes and character.

2.9. The institution recognizes and promotes appropriate linkages among scholarship, teaching, student learning and service.

Support for Student Learning

2.10 Regardless of mode of program delivery, the institution regularly identifies the characteristics of its students and assesses their needs, experiences, and levels of satisfaction. This information is used to help shape learning-centered environment and to actively promote student success.

2.11 Consistent with its purposes,the institution develops and implements co-curricular programs that are integrated with its academic goals and programs, and supports student professional and personal development.

2.12 The institution ensures that all students understand the requirements of their academic programs and receive timely, useful, and regular information and advising about relevant academic requirements.

2.13 Student support services - including financial aid, registration, advising, career counseling, computer labs, and library and information services - are designed to meet the needs of the specific types of students the institution serves and the curricula it offers.

2.14 Institutions that serve transfer students assume an obligation to provide clear and accurate information about
transfer requirements,ensure equitable treatment for such students with respect to academic policies,and ensure that
such students are not unduly disadvantaged by transfer requirements.

Faculty and Staff

3.1 The institution employs personnel sufficient in number and professional qualifications to maintain its operations
and to support its academic programs,consistent with its institutional and educational objectives.

3.2 The institution demonstrates that it employs a faculty with substantial and continuing commitment to the institution sufficient in number, professional qualifications,and diversity to achieve its educational objectives, to establish and oversee academic policies, and to ensure the integrity and continuity of its academic programs wherever and however delivered.

3.3 Faculty and staff recruitment, workload, incentive, and evaluation practices are aligned with institutional purposes
and educational objectives. Evaluation processes are systematic,include appropriate peer review, and, for instructional faculty and other teaching staff, involve consideration of evidence of teaching effectiveness, including student evaluations of instruction.

3.4 The institution maintains appropriate and sufficiently supported faculty development activities designed to improve teaching and learning consistent with its educational objectives and institutional purposes.

Fiscal, Physical, and Information Resources

3.5 Fiscal and physical resources are effectively aligned with institutional purposes and educational objectives,and are
sufficiently developed to support and maintain the level and kind of educational programs offered both now and
for the foreseeable future.

3.6 The institution holds, or provides access to,information resources sufficient in scope, quality, currency, and kind to support its academic offerings and the scholarship of its members. For on-campus students and students enrolled at a distance,physical and information resources,services,and information technology facilities are sufficient in scope and kind to support and maintain the level and kind of education offered. These resources, services and facilities are consistent with the institution’s purposes, and are appropriate, sufficient, and sustainable.

3.7 The institution’s information technology resources are sufficiently coordinated and supported to fulfill its educational purposes and to provide key academic and administrative functions.

Organizational Structures and Decision-Making Processes

3.8 The institution’s organizational structures and decision-making processes are clear, consistent with its purposes, and sufficient to support effective decision making.

3.9 The institution has an independent governing board or similar authority that,consistent with its legal and fiduciary authority, exercises appropriate oversight over institutional integrity, policies, and ongoing operations, including hiring and evaluating the chief executive officer.

3.10 The institution has a chief executive whose full-time responsibility is to the institution, together with a cadre of administrators qualified and able to provide effective educational leadership and management at all levels.

3.11 The institution’s faculty exercises effective academic leadership and acts consistently to ensure both academic
quality and the appropriate maintenance of the institution’s educational purposes and character.

Strategic Thinking and Planning

4.1 The institution periodically engages its multiple constituencies in institutional reflection and planning processes which assess its strategic position;articulate priorities;examine the alignment of its purposes, core functions and resources; and define the future direction of the institution. The institution monitors the effectiveness of the implementation of its plans and revises them as appropriate.

4.2 Planning processes at the institution define and, to the extent possible, align academic, personnel, fiscal, physical, and technological needs with the strategic objectives and priorities of the institution.

4.3 Planning processes are informed by appropriately defined and analyzed quantitative and qualitative data, and include
consideration of evidence of educational effectiveness, including student learning.

Commitment to Learning and Improvement

4.4 The institution employs a deliberate set of quality assurance processes at each level of institutional functioning,including new curriculum and program approval processes, periodic program review, ongoing evaluation, and data collection. These processes involve assessments of effectiveness, track results over time,and use the results of these assessments to revise and improve structures and processes, curricula, and pedagogy.

4.5 Institutional research addresses strategic data needs, is disseminated in a timely manner,and is incorporated in institutional review and decision-making processes. Included among the priorities of the institutional research function is the identification of indicators and the collection of appropriate data to support the assessment of student learning consistent with the institution’s purposes and educational objectives. Periodic reviews of institutional research and data collection are conducted to develop more effective indicators of performance and to assure the suitability and usefulness of data.

4.6 Leadership at all levels is committed to improvement based on the results of the processes of inquiry, evaluation and assessment used throughout the institution. The faculty take responsibility for evaluating the effectiveness of the teaching and learning process and use the results for improvement. Assessments of the campus environment in support of academic and co-curricular objectives are also undertaken and used, and are incorporated into institutional planning.

4.7 The institution, with significant faculty involvement, engages in ongoing inquiry into the processes of teaching and learning, as well as into the conditions and practices that promote the kinds and levels of learning intended by the institution. The outcomes of such inquiries are applied to the design of curricula, the design and practice of pedagogy, and to the improvement of evaluation means and methodology.

4.8 Appropriate stakeholders, including alumni, employers, practitioners, and others defined by the institution, are involved in the assessment of the effectiveness of educational programs.