Members Login
Username 
 
Password 
    Remember Me  
 
USM Forum -- Message Board -> AAUP-USM MESSAGE BOARD -> Visitor's Sacs questions
Post Info TOPIC: Visitor's Sacs questions
stephen judd

Date:
Visitor's Sacs questions
Permalink Closed

The "Brain Trust" has advised the following four passages might most specifically speak to the questions you have:


From SACS Principles of Accreditation:


Section 3.24. The governing Board is free from undue influence from political, religious, or other external bodies, and protects the institution from such influence.


Section 3.28.The institution has qualified administrative and academic officers with the experience, competence, and capacity to lead the institution.


Section 3.41.2. The institution places primary responsibnility for the content, quality, and effectiveness of its curriculum with its faculty.


Section 3.7.5. The institution publishes policies on the responsibility and authority of the faculty in academic  and governance  matters.



__________________
Emma

Date:
Permalink Closed

Section 3.28.The institution has qualified administrative and academic officers with the experience, competence, and capacity to lead the institution.


Case Closed! USM is in major trouble. Experience, competence and capacity to lead disqualify Shelby.

__________________
A Visitor

Date:
Permalink Closed

Thanks Stephen and Emma.

__________________
Invictus

Date:
Permalink Closed

Visitors need to also be aware that the current SACS probation was triggered because USM failed to adequately demonstrate "institutional effectiveness" in academic programs, especially distance learning.

Institutional effectiveness is apparently what one board member has called "technical" stuff, so a simple explanation is in order. Institutional effectiveness refers to a systematic program of planning (goals-setting) & assessment (measurement of the extent to which goals have been achieved). The central theme is that the institution must show that the results of assessment are used to improve the system ("closing the loop"). Or as one SACS evaluator once put it to me, "Show that you're doing what you tell the public you're doing. And when you don't measure up to your own standards, show that you're doing something about it."

It really isn't all that "technical." Many businesses these days engage in similar activities for product development, plant management, etc: define a goal, monitor performance, modify processes accordingly, rinse & repeat. In fact, it's a form of the "scientific method," a paradigm that USM's president ought to be familiar (and comfortable) with.

All SACS requires is that the process be defined & documented. Of course, institutional effectiveness means that departments (i.e., faculty) must be empowered to make serious curricular decisions & that serious curricular decisions are made based on data.

__________________
Freud

Date:
Permalink Closed

quote:
Originally posted by: Invictus
"Visitors need to also be aware that the current SACS probation was triggered because USM failed to adequately demonstrate "institutional effectiveness" in academic programs, especially distance learning. Institutional effectiveness is apparently what one board member has called "technical" stuff, so a simple explanation is in order. Institutional effectiveness refers to a systematic program of planning (goals-setting) & assessment (measurement of the extent to which goals have been achieved). The central theme is that the institution must show that the results of assessment are used to improve the system ("closing the loop"). Or as one SACS evaluator once put it to me, "Show that you're doing what you tell the public you're doing. And when you don't measure up to your own standards, show that you're doing something about it." It really isn't all that "technical." Many businesses these days engage in similar activities for product development, plant management, etc: define a goal, monitor performance, modify processes accordingly, rinse & repeat. In fact, it's a form of the "scientific method," a paradigm that USM's president ought to be familiar (and comfortable) with. All SACS requires is that the process be defined & documented. Of course, institutional effectiveness means that departments (i.e., faculty) must be empowered to make serious curricular decisions & that serious curricular decisions are made based on data."
What's always baffled me is how our main "change-agents" stray from good business practice every time they implement some new idea, yet they give lip service to us needing to be an effective and efficient business. The mantra here is "roll it out and we'll figure out how to make it work later." Most businesses have independent research and design and marketing units that do a thorough analysis of a product before roll out, and they then collect data on roll out and after to ensure that they at least break even. Every change here seems to be done on the fly with not enough effort devoted to R&D time. The R&D mechanism, at least for the academic side, is the various councils and faculty units. It is bad practice to not plan throroughly, and it is bad practice not to integrate the efforts of your R&D and design teams, marketing, and financial folks before making a change. Think of SACS as the firm's independent auditors, and think of their report as influencing our bond ratings. Any business that operated the way we do would soon have junk bond status.   

__________________
Invictus

Date:
Permalink Closed

Excellent analogies, Freud!

Basically, USM has been slapped because it's administration doesn't think that QA is very important. All that seems to interest them is "profit."

__________________
Page 1 of 1  sorted by
 
Quick Reply

Please log in to post quick replies.
USM Forum -- Message Board -> AAUP-USM MESSAGE BOARD -> Visitor's Sacs questions
Tweet this page Post to Digg Post to Del.icio.us


Create your own FREE Forum
Report Abuse 		Powered by ActiveBoard