Wheaton reaccreditation deadline pushed back
Mae Ciampa '11
Issue date: 9/17/08 Section: News
The New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) granted an extension to Wheaton on the reaccreditation process after the departure of Provost Molly Easo-Smith and Dean of Students Sue Alexander last spring. The off-campus evaluation is now scheduled for April 2009 instead of the original date in November.
Coordinator of this effort, Political Science professor Darlene Boroviak, announced that the first drafts of each department's individual report are due in early October in order to have a full report ready to present to the full campus early next semester for student, faculty, and staff groups to review and evaluate.
Reaccreditation occurs every ten years in all institutions of higher education in the United States. There are six regional accrediting bodies throughout the country that assess the institutions on the institutions' assessment of their status as well as their projections for their status in the future.
"Our public and private schools are viewed among the world as being some of the best," said Boroviak, "how do we say to parents that their student is learning outside the classroom as well as in the classroom?"
Accreditation is the process that United States colleges, universities, and institutions use to compare that they are delivering what they promise to students, parents, the community, and the world at large. The regional accrediting bodies such as NEASC serve to regulate and manage the collective.
"NEASC as an accrediting institution expects us to base our self study on data. That's what they are going to base our assessment on. That we have the evidence."
Boroviak said that she, interim Provost Elita Pastra-Landis, and the departments worked throughout the summer to draft the individual reports, each of which explains Wheaton according to one of eleven different standards. In October and November,
Boroviak and Pastra-Landis will review and absorb the individual reports into a whole report of up to 100 pages that they will submit to the Steering committee to review.
Boroviak and Pastra-Landis have set early next September as an internal due date for the final self-study to insure that it will reach the off-campus assessment committee well before the six-week-prior deadline for November's visit.
"This is truly a community project," said Boroviak.
According to the Standards of Accreditation put out by NEASC defines an effective institution as one that "has clearly defined purposes appropriate to an institution of higher learning; has assembled and organized those resources necessary to achieve its purposes; is achieving its purposes; has the ability to continue to achieve its purposes."
Standards that NEASC bases reaccreditation on include missions and purposes, organization and governance, students, including retention rate and graduation rate, and integrity.
Coordinator of this effort, Political Science professor Darlene Boroviak, announced that the first drafts of each department's individual report are due in early October in order to have a full report ready to present to the full campus early next semester for student, faculty, and staff groups to review and evaluate.
Reaccreditation occurs every ten years in all institutions of higher education in the United States. There are six regional accrediting bodies throughout the country that assess the institutions on the institutions' assessment of their status as well as their projections for their status in the future.
"Our public and private schools are viewed among the world as being some of the best," said Boroviak, "how do we say to parents that their student is learning outside the classroom as well as in the classroom?"
Accreditation is the process that United States colleges, universities, and institutions use to compare that they are delivering what they promise to students, parents, the community, and the world at large. The regional accrediting bodies such as NEASC serve to regulate and manage the collective.
"NEASC as an accrediting institution expects us to base our self study on data. That's what they are going to base our assessment on. That we have the evidence."
Boroviak said that she, interim Provost Elita Pastra-Landis, and the departments worked throughout the summer to draft the individual reports, each of which explains Wheaton according to one of eleven different standards. In October and November,
Boroviak and Pastra-Landis will review and absorb the individual reports into a whole report of up to 100 pages that they will submit to the Steering committee to review.
Boroviak and Pastra-Landis have set early next September as an internal due date for the final self-study to insure that it will reach the off-campus assessment committee well before the six-week-prior deadline for November's visit.
"This is truly a community project," said Boroviak.
According to the Standards of Accreditation put out by NEASC defines an effective institution as one that "has clearly defined purposes appropriate to an institution of higher learning; has assembled and organized those resources necessary to achieve its purposes; is achieving its purposes; has the ability to continue to achieve its purposes."
Standards that NEASC bases reaccreditation on include missions and purposes, organization and governance, students, including retention rate and graduation rate, and integrity.
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