Accreditation Process
Background
Accreditation by a US Secretary of Education approved accreditation agency, such as the regional accrediting organization (Western Association of Schools and Colleges, WASC, in the case of California, Hawaii and the Pacific Basin) is required if a college or university wants to have access to federal financial aid funds. In addition, accreditation by the regional accrediting organization is useful if a college or university wants to have its courses and degrees recognized by other institutions.
UCR has been accredited since 1956. The campus' accreditation is reviewed periodically by WASC through a campus self-study and peer review process. As part of the current cycle of reaccreditation the campus is required to submit its Institutional Proposal for Accreditation, Preparatory Review Report, and Educational Effectiveness Report, as well as prepare for and host the site visits for the Preparatory Review and the Educational Effectiveness Review. The WASC Handbook of Accreditation, 2008, provides a complete description of the Accreditation Process.
The Institutional Proposal for Accreditation (see WASC Handbook, The Institutional Review Process, Stage 1):
- Identifies everything the campus will do in the accreditation process
- Addresses Institutional Capacity - including:
- How the institution intends to present evidence to demonstrate compliance with the WASC Standards
- Defining Institutional Purposes and Ensuring Educational Objectives
- Achieving Educational Objectives through Core Functions
- Developing and Applying Resources and Organizational Structures to Ensure Sustainability
- Creating an Organization Committed to Learning and Improvement
- Effectiveness of the institution's data gathering and analysis systems
- Steps to be taken to develop institutional evidence to support both the Capacity and Preparatory Review and the Educational Effectiveness Review
- Addresses Educational Effectiveness - including methods to be used to engage the special themes and ways in which the institution will address student learning
- Note: UCR will explore three special themes:
- Approval of UCR's Proposal for Accreditation
- Note: UCR's Proposal for Accreditation was submitted on October 11, 2005, and approved by WASC on December 6, 2005.
The Capacity and Preparatory Review Report (see WASC Handbook, The Institutional Review Process, Stage 2)
- Reflective and Concluding Essays corresponding to the WASC Standards.
- Institutional Portfolio of descriptive data, policies, exhibits, and data displays
- Appendix with Institutional Response to previous team recommendations
- Maximum of 35 pages, exclusive of exhibits and appendices
- From November 14, 2007, to December 5, 2007, the draft of the Preparatory Review Report, with attachments and appendix, was posted for General Campus Comment
- Final Report was submitted to WASC on December 20, 2007, and was posted on the Preparatory Review Report page.
- Was followed by WASC site visit March 12-14, 2008
The Educational Effectiveness Report (see WASC Handbook, The Institutional Review Process, Stage 3)
- Description of the Educational Effectiveness Approach
- Significant Engagement and Analysis of Educational Effectiveness, including analytical essays regarding the special themes
- An analysis of the effectiveness of the Program Review Process
- Further development of student success efforts
- An updated Data Portfolio
- An integrative component
- Response to the Capacity and Preparatory Review Recommendations
- Maximum of 50 pages, exclusive of exhibits
- Final report was submitted on July 7, 2009.
- Will be followed by WASC site visit October 27-29, 2009