Accreditation Frequently
Asked Questions
- What is accreditation?
- Who accredits institutions of higher education?
- Who accredits Anoka-Ramsey Community College?
- How does the PEAQ accreditation process work?
- What does the HLC look for when it accredits colleges
and universities?
- When will the HLC re-accreditation visit take
place?
- How is the college preparing for the re-accreditation
visit in 2006?
- Who will be on the HLC visiting team?
- What will the team do during the visit?
- How will the findings be reported?
- What kinds of recommendations might the team make?
- Where can I get more information on accreditation?
- What are the HLC Criteria?
- Comments or Questions?
1. What is accreditation?
Accreditation is the result of positive external review
by an authorized agency such as The Higher Learning Commission
(HLC): A Commission of the North Central Association
of Colleges and Schools. Accreditation assures the public
that a college, university, school,
or program
can do its job. While many academic agencies accredit
particular programs of study (nursing, business, physical
therapy assistant, etc.), The Higher Learning Commission
and other regional accrediting agencies are responsible
for assuring that colleges and universities meet certain
standards in terms of their missions, operations, and
activities in teaching and student learning, discovery
and promotion of knowledge, and service. Unaccredited
schools are not eligible for many kinds of federal support.
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2. Who accredits institutions
of higher education?
Six regional associations are responsible for the accreditation
of colleges, universities and other institutions of higher
learning: North Central, Middle States, New England,
Northwest, Southern and Western Associations.
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3.
Who accredits Anoka-Ramsey Community College?
The Higher Learning Commission (HLC): A Commission of
The North Central Association of Colleges and Schools,
is
responsible
for accrediting ARCC. Through its Commissions it accredits,
and thereby grants membership to educational institutions
in the nineteen-state North Central region: Arkansas,
Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan,
Minnesota,
Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, New
Mexico, South Dakota, Wisconsin, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
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4. How does the PEAQ accreditation
process work?
The Higher Learning Commission of The North Central Association
of Colleges and Schools provides two programs for maintaining
accredited status: the Program
to Evaluate
and Advance
Quality (PEAQ)
and the Academic Quality Improvement Program (AQIP).
Anoka-Ramsey Community College will be reviewed as part
of PEAQ, which employs a five-step comprehensive evaluation
process to determine continued accredited status.
- The organization engages in a self-study process
for approximately two years and prepares a report
of its findings
in accordance with Commission expectations.
- The Commission sends an evaluation team of
Consultant-Evaluators to conduct a comprehensive
visit for continued accreditation
and to write a report containing the team’s recommendations.
- The report of the evaluation team and other documents
relating to the comprehensive visit are reviewed
by a Readers
Panel
or, in some
situations,
a Review
Committee of the HLC.
- The Institutional Actions Council (IAC) takes
action on the Readers Panel’s
recommendation.
- If a Review Committee reviewed the visit,
the Review Committee takes action.
The Board of Trustees validates the work of IAC or
a Review Committee, finalizing the action. Evaluations
for initial
and continued candidacy and initial accreditation follow
the processes outlined above.
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5. What does the HLC look
for when it accredits colleges and universities?
In 2005, the HLC adopted a new set of criteria for evaluation:
- Criterion One: Mission and Integrity
- Criterion Two: Preparing for the Future
- Criterion Three: Student Learning and Effective Teaching
- Criterion Four: Acquisition, Discovery and Application
of Knowledge
- Criterion Five: Engagement and Service
HLC expects that ARCC has evaluated examples of evidence
to support each criteria and its components. In addition,
the Consultant-Evaluators also expect to see evidence that
the organization is future-oriented, learning-focused,
connected, and distinctive.
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6. When will the HLC re-accreditation
visit take place?
The campus will prepare a Self-Study Report, based on
the new criteria, and submit it to The HLC by early
July 2006.
An evaluation team from the HLC is scheduled to visit
ARCC October, 2006.
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7. How is the college preparing
for the re-accreditation visit in 2006?
A Steering Committee and Criteria-based subcommittees
have been formed to evaluate evidence, make sense of
that evidence
in light of each criteria, and help prepare the college
for the 2006 visit. This ARCC
re-accreditation web site has been developed in conjunction
with the self-study
report. For more information on how you can help the
college prepare for the visit, email the Committee Co-Chairs,
Kim
Lynch and Susan
Tarnowski.
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8. Who will be on the HLC visiting
team?
The college will be visited by an evaluation team of
trained Consultant-Evaluators. These are administrators,
staff
people, and faculty who have been accepted to the
Consultant-Evaluators by The HLC. All will have gone
through training for such visits and will be familiar with
the new Criteria.
Most of the team members will be experienced reviewers.
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9. What will the team do during
the visit?
The team will already have received the complete
college Self-Study Report and will have had access
to documents
via the web site. During the visit, they will be
seeking to validate the content of the report in
terms of the
strengths we have declared and data that support
them, as well as
concerns that need attention or issues that may
confront us in the future. Team members will have meetings
with key individuals and groups from across the
college
and
will have open meetings that are less structured.
Most of these
activities will take place on Monday and Tuesday,
October 2 and 3. On Wednesday, October 4, the team
will make
an Exit Report to the college on their preliminary
findings.
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10. How will the findings be
reported?
In both the initial draft and the later, full report,
The HLC team will write an Assurance section
that addresses the Criteria and Core Components for
accreditation. The team will note the Components
that have been
met,
any
that
have not been met and any qualifications or
concerns regarding them. In addition, the team will write
an Advancement
section in their role as consultants to offer
advice
to the college
about issues that might be of concern and ways
in which ARCC might seek to approach or address
those
issues.
The President should receive a draft of the written
report
within 6 weeks of the visit. He will have a chance
to correct factual errors, and the final report
will be
submitted
to The HLC no more than 9 weeks after the visit.
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11. What kinds of recommendations
might the team make?
The team may simply recommend continued accreditation
with no recommended follow-up activities before
the next scheduled
visit. If an institution is in serious
trouble, the team could recommend probation
or even withdrawal
of accreditation. In between there is a range
of possible actions, including required progress
reports
on how
the institution is dealing with particular
issues, monitoring
reports dealing with specific issues that require
careful and ongoing attention, and contingency
reports dealing
with changes taking place that affect the mission
or nature
of the institution. It is likely that some
kind of follow-up activity will be recommended.
HLC staff estimate that 85% of institutions
will have some
kind of follow-up activity required.
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12. Where can I get more information
on accreditation?
The Higher Learning Commission of the North
Central Association of Colleges and Schools
web site: www.ncahigherlearningcommission.org
13. What are the HLC Criteria?
- Mission and Integrity
The organization operates with integrity to ensure the
fulfillment of its mission through structures and processes
that involve the board, administration, faculty, staff,
and students.
- Preparing for the Future
The organization’s allocation of resources and its
processes for evaluation and planning demonstrate its capacity
to fulfill its mission, improve the quality of its education,
and respond to future challenges and opportunities.
- Student Learning and Effective Teaching
The organization provides evidence of student learning
and teaching effectiveness that demonstrates it is fulfilling
its educational mission.
- Acquisition, Discovery, and Application of Knowledge
The organization promotes a life of learning for its faculty,
administration, staff and students by fostering and supporting
inquiry, creativity, practice, and social responsibility
in ways consistent with its mission.
- Engagement and Service
As called for by its mission, the organization identifies
its constituencies and serves them in ways both value.
14. Comments or Questions?
Questions and/or comments are welcome and encouraged.
Please direct them to Kim
Lynch, Co-chair. Back to top
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