This document discusses assessment, accreditation, and compliance from the Higher Learning Commission. It provides an overview of the HLC criteria that institutions must meet, including having a clear mission, operating with integrity, and providing quality education. It notes areas that the institution met with conditions, including operating with integrity, commitment to assessment, and commitment to retention/completion. It outlines recommendations from an accreditation team visit, including following up on restructuring co-requisite programs, improving faculty credentialing and assessment systems, and shared governance. It also discusses the institution's co-requisite model, assessment systems, and shared governance plans.

1. Assessment, Accreditation,
and Compliance
Higher Learning Commission (HLC)
Deanna Romano
Brandon Kirk
April 27, 2018

2. HLC Criterion
1. The institution’s mission is clear and articulated publicly; it guides
the institution’s operations.
2. The institution acts with integrity; its conduct is ethical and
responsible.
3. The institution provides high quality education, wherever and
however its offerings are delivered.
4. The institution demonstrates responsibility for the quality of its
educational programs, learning environments, and support
services, and it evaluates their effectiveness for student learning
through processes designed to promote continuous improvement.
5. The institution’s resources, structures, and processes are sufficient
to fulfill its mission, improve the quality of its educational offerings,
and respond to future challenges and opportunities. The institution
plans for the future.

3. Met with Conditions
• 2.A. The institution operates with integrity in its financial, academic,
personnel, and auxiliary functions; it establishes and follows policies
and processes for fair and ethical behavior on the part of its
governing board, administration, faculty, and staff.
• 4.B. The institution demonstrates a commitment to educational
achievement and improvement through ongoing assessment of
student learning.
• 4.C. The institution demonstrates a commitment to educational
improvement through ongoing attention to retention, persistence,
and completion rates in its degree and certificate programs.
• 5.B. The institution’s governance and administrative structures
promote effective leadership and support collaborative processes
that enable the institution to fulfill its mission.

4. Team Recommendations
• Follow up visit – Spring 2020
• Effects of restructuring the co-requisite
program
• Faculty Credentialing System
• Assessment System
• Improved Shared Governance
• Move from Open to Standard Pathway

5. Co-Requisite Model
• New design
• ALEKS Implementation
• Grammarly
• Analytics

6. Faculty Credentialing System
• Departments/Programs
• Faculty Committee
• HR Tracking System

7. Assessment System
• Robust Assessment Plan
– Calendar of Procedures
– Clear Processes
– Evidence of Broad Application
• Academics and Co-Curricular
• Experiential Learning
• One-Year of Data
• Continuous Improvement
• Measures for Retention, Persistence, &
Completion

8. Assessment System
• Academic Assessment Committee
• Institutional Effectiveness Committee
• Watermark (LiveText)
• Professional Development
– Assessment Academy
– ALEKS/Grammarly
– Conferences
– Presentations

9. Shared Governance
• Governance Handbook
– Assessment, Accreditation, & Compliance
– Institutional Effectiveness
– Active Participation
– Communication
• Accreditation Committee

10. HLC Conference 2018

11. Branding
What is distinctive about our mission?
What do we do that is unique?
We create a brand
Attracting students is about saying we have something
that other colleges do not
We can’t compete at everything, but it is a competition
Is anyone going to pay for our product in a few years?
What matters at my college?

12. Let’s Tweet!
What makes us unique?
“Southern West Virginia Community and
Technical College provides accessible,
affordable, quality education and training
that promote success for those we serve.”
#swvctc

13. Assessment in General
• Assessment and strategy are connected – how do
we use assessment to help get us there
• Assessment drives institutional strategy – we are
what we measure
• Assessment is necessary
• Evangelize assessment
• Assessment should be authentic (worthwhile)
• Assessment enables learning
• Assessment is about institutional improvement
• Assessment is a lot about documentation

14. Continuous Improvement Cycle

15. Assessment Leaders
• Assessment leaders work closely with academic deans
• Assessment leaders must build trust with faculty; they
don’t have authority over them; faculty participation is
essential
• Assessment leaders must help train other faculty in
assessment and also how to write/measure learning
outcomes
• Assessment leaders must celebrate assessment
projects
• Assessment leaders must be flexible and available to
meet with faculty when it’s convenient for them
• Assessment leaders must emphasize the importance of
assessment in teaching and learning

16. Data
• Data --> Knowledge --> Wisdom = Evaluation
• Data – meaning and context – WHAT
• Knowledge – we talk about the data – WHY
• Wisdom – understanding the data and how to apply it –
WHAT TO DO
• WHY are we assessing?
• WHAT are we going to look for as evidence of student
learning?
• WHO is going to be involved in the assessment
process?
• WHEN are we going to implement the various process?

17. Data
• Identify what is working – have courage to stop
doing what is not working
• Widen the circle of active participants with a clear
and shared purpose
• Never underestimate the amount of training
needed: i.e., training in how to use software or
how to use data
• Limitation: lack of confidence or experience in
doing the work
• Limitation: Lots of people can be doing
assessment but fail to act on it

18. Data
• Limitation: Assessors do not meet enough to
work on assessment
• Limitation: Not all courses have outcomes that
can be measured
• Limitation: Not all faculty are willing to do
assessment work outside of their classrooms
• Remember: Learning is the heart of what we
do; it’s all about learning (our passion sustains
us through the process)
• It’s a marathon, not a sprint!

19. Student Learning
• Students learn best when faculty builds on what
they already know (link to other courses)
• Students learn best when they are actively
engaged in their own learning
• Students learn best when they know what is
expected of them
• Students learn best when they get timely and
relevant feedback on their performance
• Students learn best when they can see the
relevance for their career or personal lives
• Students learn best when they feel that their
voices are understood and being heard

20. Student Learning by Level
What is happening at each level?
• Course
• Program
• Division
• Institution

21. Student Interaction
HLC wants to know what everyone does on
campus to help students
• Faculty
• Academic Advisor
• Financial Aid
• Career Advisor
• Student Support
• Health Services

22. Some Interesting Information
SKILLS DESIRED BY EMPLOYERS
• Critical thinking
• Team work
• Problem solving
• Ability to work with diverse people
EDUCATION DESIRED BY EMPLOYERS
• Three years of writing
• Two semesters of math
• Cultural competency

23. Some Interesting Information
JOBS AT RISK
• Accounting and finance
• Economics
JOBS IN DEMAND
• Medicine
• Biology

24. Faculty Roles
• Content expert – proficient in the subject area
• Facilitator of learning – utilize delivery
methods that maximize the learning of
students (be aware of the best practices)
• Member of a learning community – meet with
other faculty to share observations and make
decisions about curriculum and processes
• Assessment should be part of faculty
expectations/job descriptions

25. Faculty Roles
• Be aware that many students are new to the
college world and will have many questions and
feel out of place
• Model smart learning
• Point out critical thinking moments so students
know when they’re happening
• Give lots of feedback, put a greater importance
on thinking
• Let them know they are not here to become a
smart phone; they are here to become a smart
person

26. Faculty Roles
“You can tell the quality of an
institution by the quality of its
conversations.”

27. Let’s Tweet Again!
What is the most essential quality for
good teaching?
#swvctc

28. Interesting Information
PROGRAM ASSESSMENT
• Not every program, department, or student is
the same but we can still establish common
minimum expectations for all students
USE OF SOFTWARE IN ASSESSMENT
• Implementation of software for tracking
student learning and assessment, if employed
strategically, can improve assessment
• Software cannot do the work alone, though

29. Faculty Assessment of Students
• Put your syllabus online and know who opened it
within 48 hours; if they haven’t opened it, do an
intervention
• A good teacher first gives students something they can
succeed at – make early assessments simple
• Do micro-assessment – do more testing rather than a
midterm and final
• You need an assessment on the second day
• Start with success; don’t start with complexity
• Make the honor society visible, point out all the perks –
let those who worked hard tell the story (modeling)

30. Faculty/Course Assessment
• What matters most in terms of student success?
Answer: Having faculty who care – improving
engagements and relationships matters the most
• Students want instructors to be fair, organized,
humorous, and approachable
• When students know that we care, it matters –
it’s not a substitute for knowing our subject but it
matters
• How do we measure this? If it’s important to
students, we should evaluate it, even if it’s not
the best measurement

31. Faculty/Course Assessment
• Teacher evaluations should be about five
questions – if surveys are too long, students get
bored
• How much did this course increase your ability to:
solve complex problems, work in groups, increase
your own intelligence, think in new ways?
• How much did this course motivate you to do the
work, encourage you to improve your own study
skills, improve your ability to think abstractly?
• Describe how you applied learning from this class
into a new context this semester

32. Questions?