The document summarizes Richard Tevis's 2014 dissertation on how accreditation affects private Christian colleges. It outlines Tevis's research questions, literature review, research design, findings, and conclusions. Tevis interviewed administrators and faculty at three Christian colleges with different accreditation statuses (regional, national, non-accredited) about how accreditation impacts areas like mission, reputation, accountability, and collaboration. Overall, Tevis found that while accreditation can benefit colleges in some ways, institutions should carefully examine how their unique mission is affected and ensure the type of accreditation aligns with their purpose. Further research on a larger scale was recommended.

1. Richard A. Tevis, Ed.D.
Feb. 15, 2014
The Northern California Educational Leadership
Research Symposium
Burk Hall 177, San Francisco State University

2. Research Questions
1. What value does accreditation bring
to a private Christian college?
2. To what extent does accreditation
affect the mission and vision of such
an institution?
3. How does a lack of accreditation
affect such an institution?

3.  Regional Accreditation - often seen as the common
form of institutional quality assurance for higher
education institutions. According to Judith Eaton
(2000), there are six core academic values: institutional
autonomy; collegiality and shared governance; faculty
intellectual and academic authority; the degree; general
education; and site-based education and a community
of learning.
 National Accreditation - typically for career-based and
single-purpose institutions
 Specialized Accreditation - usually reviews professional
programs and schools related to, for example, art,
music, architecture, law, medicine, and business (Eaton,
2001).

4.  Systems theory in relation to the
overall accountability structure of
higher education.
 Major concepts
1. Accreditation
2. Mission statements

5.  Accountability system in education that is
voluntarily sought by institutions and
conferred by independent, autonomous
bodies.
 Uniquely indicative of the American
educational system.
 Most other countries utilize government
agencies to set and maintain educational
standards. (TRACS, 2012)

6.  Accreditation can be a challenge for private
Christian colleges (Benne, 2001).
 It is difficult to find articles that specify what
areas are adversely affected by accrediting
bodies.
 It appears that the perceptions of
administrators and faculty in regards to their
role in Christian education and their mission
have not been thoroughly researched
(Dressel, 1987).

7. Research design
 Qualitative study – uses a
constructivist or participatory
perspective
 Phenomenology – attempts to
build the inquiry from the essence
of human experience of the
participants (Creswell, 2008)

8.  Documented the perception of faculty and
administrators of 4-year private Christian
colleges
 Used 1-hour, one-on-one interviews
 Interview included semi-structured, open-
ended questions
 CSUS Library did not carry some relevant
literature, namely the journal Christian Higher
Education

9. Three college sites were chosen.
1. Alpha College: medium-sized (1,300
students), regionally accredited Christian
liberal arts college
2. Beta College: small (300 students),
nationally accredited Bible college
3. Delta College: small (100 students),
church-based, non-accredited Bible
college

10. Researcher interviewed one administrator
and two faculty members from each site.
Each participant was designated by college,
position and number [i.e., Alpha A (Alpha
College, Administrator); Beta F1 (Beta
College Faculty Member #1)]. Because there
was only one administrator from each
college, there will not be a number for
administrators just the letter A.

11. Participants Gender Degree Emphasis Unaccred
ited
Minister Other
College
Alpha A F Doctor Education No No No
Alpha F1 M Doctor Bible No Yes Yes
Alpha F2 M Doctor Psychology Yes Yes Yes
Beta A M Masters Bible Yes Yes Yes
Beta F1 M Masters Bible Yes Yes Yes
Beta F2 M Masters Education Yes Yes No
Delta A M Doctor Cross-
cultural
Commu-
nication
Yes Yes Yes
Delta F1 M Masters Bible Yes Yes Yes
Delta F2 M M.Div. Bible Yes Yes Yes

12. Topic Area &
Questions
Alpha College
(Regional acc.)
Beta College
(National acc.)
Delta College
(Non-
accredited)
Value of
Accreditation
Question #1:
What value does
accreditation
bring to a 4-
year, private
Christian
college?
A. Financial aid
B. Outside agency
– all 3 participants
C. Accountability
Quality
assurance
D. Collaboration
between
institutions
Advanced
degrees
E. Reputation
(No response)
F. Mission
Helps articulate
your mission
A. Financial aid
B. Outside agency
only administrator
C. Accountability
Raising a
standard
D. Collaboration
between
institutions
Advanced
degrees
Transfer of
credits
E. Reputation
Acceptability
F. Mission –
concern about
regional
accreditation
A. Financial aid
B. Outside agency
(No response)
C. Accountability
High standards
D. Collaboration
between
institutions
Transfer of
credits
E. Reputation
Integrity
Legitimacy
F. Mission
(No response)

13. Topic Area &
Questions
Alpha College
(Regional acc.)
Beta College
(National acc.)
Delta College
(Non-accredited)
Effects of
Accreditation
Question #2:
To what extent
does
accreditation
affect the mission
and vision of such
an institution?
A. Financial aid
(No response)
B. Outside agency
Peer-review
Like-institutions
C. Accountability
Assessment
Quality assurance
D. Collaboration
between institutions
(No response)
E. Reputation
(No response)
F. Mission
Mission analysis
A. Financial aid
B. Outside agency
Can be bad if
influence causes
college to
wander from its
mission
C. Accountability
To students & job
D. Collaboration
between
institutions
Transfer of credits
Memorandums of
Understanding
E. Reputation
Credibility
F. Mission – type of
accreditation
must match
mission of
college
A. Financial aid
Depends on
government agenda
B. Outside agency
(No response)
C. Accountability
(1 respondent)
D. Collaboration
between institutions
(No response)
E. Reputation
Level of education
Validity-to whom?
F. Mission
(No response)

14. Topic Area &
Questions
Alpha College
(Regional acc.)
Beta College
(National acc.)
Delta College
(Non-accredited)
Effects of Non-
accreditation
Question #3:
How does a lack
of accreditation
affect such an
institution?
A. Financial aid
Affects ability to
survive
B. Outside agency
No outside
accountability
C. Accountability
(No response)
D. Collaboration
between institutions
Hinders transfer of
credit hours
Not able to pursue
advanced degrees
E. Reputation
(No response)
F. Mission
A. Financial aid
Very little available
B. Outside agency
Could become
inward focused
C. Accountability
(No response)
D. Collaboration
between institutions
Hinders transfer of
credit hours
E. Reputation
(No response)
F. Mission
A. Financial aid
(No response)
B. Outside agency
(No response)
C. Accountability
Lower
expectations
D. Collaboration
between institutions
(No response)
E. Reputation
(No response)
F. Mission
Room for
unaccredited
education
Easier for some
people to get
involved in higher
learning

15. Basic Model of Systems Theory
Inputs Organization Outputs
Transformation
Process
Feedback
The External Environment

16. Systems Theory model of Accreditation
Inputs College Outputs
Financial Aid Accountability Collaboration
Outside Mission between
Agency Analysis Institutions
Reputation
Feedback (Constituency)
The External Environment (Community)

17.  Each private Christian college should conduct a mission
analysis in order to determine the mission and purpose
of their institution. (Alpha F2)
 Each private Christian college should formulate a
mission statement that carefully details the mission of
its institution.
 From this mission statement, each private Christian
college should determine whether or not accreditation
is necessary in order to fulfill their mission. (Alpha F2)
 If it is determined that accreditation is necessary, then a
careful examination should be conducted to determine
what type of accreditation is necessary to carry out the
mission of the private Christian college. (Beta A)

18.  Research needs to done on a larger scale
over an extended period of time with
multiple sites in multiple states, if possible,
utilizing more quantitative data from
accrediting bodies, both secular and
Christian.
 Further research needs to be conducted into
the idea of whether it is accreditation itself
that leads to the secularization of Christian
institutions of higher education, or are
there other factors involved.

19.  Many of the participants stated that
accreditation is valuable, but some were
concerned about it changing their mission or
purpose.
 Some even stated that for certain institutions
their mission might not require accreditation.
 The researcher has come to the conclusion that
the key for the private Christian college is to
genuinely know its mission and purpose.

20. To access dissertation via ScholarWorks
http://hdl.handle.net/10211.9/2052
To contact Richard Tevis
Richard.Tevis@ccscougars.org