Dialog, UA Faculty and Staff News

Advisory

SACS Accreditation Underway

Looking for Measurable Change

The Compliance Certification Team continues to meet regularly and report progress toward meeting all the SACS (Southern Association of Colleges and Schools) requirements for reaffirmation of accreditation. The CC Team's goal is to prepare a compliance report to SACS by Aug. 15, 2004. Meeting compliance core requirements demands that extensive documentation be available on the Web, and the team is currently gathering information. According to SACS's definition, accreditation is a process leading to a product. The process serves to stimulate evaluation and identify areas for improvement, which creates the means of demonstrating accountability to constituents.

According to John Dew, co-chair of the CC Team and director of the continuous quality improvement initiative at UA, the product SACS is looking for and what UA's documentation will demonstrate is that the institution can accomplish measurable change in student learning.

Looking for the Evidence

The compliance report will be delivered to an off-site peer review team. This team will go to the UA web site's section on SACS Reaffirmation of Accreditation to review all the documentation and evidence to support the 73 principles of accreditation. This site, at www.sacs.ua.edu, will continually develop as the information comes in.

The Second Step of the Process

In addition to the CC Team report, the process requires that a Quality Enhancement Plan go to a peer review SACS group in 2005. This QEP should serve as a roadmap for institutional improvement and provide measures for outcomes assessment of student learning. A baseline report is being developed, by which progress may be measured.

Current Activity

The current activity in this assembling of information phase includes gathering initial information, particularly about UA faculty credentials, developing a short narrative, and posting the information on the web site. In future issues, Dialog will look at CC Team's progress in assembling information, UA's baseline report, and timelines.