Reaccreditation process is underway
Issue date: 12/10/08 Section: News
Wheaton's reaccreditation process will be entering a new phase next semester, according to Political Science Professor and Co-Chair of the Steering Committee Darlene Boroviak. "This semester we've been putting together the self-study," said Boroviak, "We are receiving reports now."
The reaccreditation process takes place every 10 years and is supervised by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), which is the oldest Regional accrediting program in the country. The portion that the Wheaton administration is putting together is called the self-study, which Boroviak described as "a summary of where we are, assessment of how well were doing, projection into the future."
Various parts of the administration and faculty assess the college's achievement along 11 standards and send them to the Steering committee, which will draft a preliminary copy of the report.
This copy will be presented to the campus-at-large over the spring semester. Boroviak promised that there would be ample opportunity for students to review and comment on the assessments in the draft. "Next semester open meeting for students, teachers and staff."
After this process the final draft will be prepared over the summer, in time to prepare for a visit from representatives of the NEASC commission who will come to the campus in November.
While the NEASC's standard are the same regardless of what institution they are accrediting, according to Boroviak our self-study submission will be different from other schools in the area for a variety of reasons. "Wheaton has a certain story to tell as a small liberal arts college that would be quite different from [the story of] a commuter school."
In addition, said Boroviak, the structure of the self-study report has changed over the years in accordance to new standards set by NEASC. "Changes come in the emphasis, NEASC makes it quite clear that the descriptive part is the smaller part and the assessment is the larger part."
According to Boroviak, the reaccreditation process is important because it is a way to say to the world, "we are doing what we say we're doing."
The reaccreditation process takes place every 10 years and is supervised by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), which is the oldest Regional accrediting program in the country. The portion that the Wheaton administration is putting together is called the self-study, which Boroviak described as "a summary of where we are, assessment of how well were doing, projection into the future."
Various parts of the administration and faculty assess the college's achievement along 11 standards and send them to the Steering committee, which will draft a preliminary copy of the report.
This copy will be presented to the campus-at-large over the spring semester. Boroviak promised that there would be ample opportunity for students to review and comment on the assessments in the draft. "Next semester open meeting for students, teachers and staff."
After this process the final draft will be prepared over the summer, in time to prepare for a visit from representatives of the NEASC commission who will come to the campus in November.
While the NEASC's standard are the same regardless of what institution they are accrediting, according to Boroviak our self-study submission will be different from other schools in the area for a variety of reasons. "Wheaton has a certain story to tell as a small liberal arts college that would be quite different from [the story of] a commuter school."
In addition, said Boroviak, the structure of the self-study report has changed over the years in accordance to new standards set by NEASC. "Changes come in the emphasis, NEASC makes it quite clear that the descriptive part is the smaller part and the assessment is the larger part."
According to Boroviak, the reaccreditation process is important because it is a way to say to the world, "we are doing what we say we're doing."
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