Institutional Self Study:Institutional Self Study:ExaminationExamination of of Heart,Heart, Mind,Mind, and and SoulSoul

Ronald L. BakerRonald L. BakerExecutive Vice PresidentExecutive Vice President

Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities

IntentionIntention

Provoke thought and promote dialogue on effective self study.

PrinciplePrinciple

It is only after time has been given for a cool and deliberate reflection that the real voice of the people can be known.

George Washington

ReflectionReflection

Sometimes we come to realize that just going to be going, just talking to be talking, just spending to be spending, just rushing to be rushing, doesn’t always mean much.

Periodically we need to appraise our past performance, to repent and improve, and to resolve to follow through the good things

we undertake to do.Richard L. Evans

DefinitionDefinition

Regional accreditation is a voluntary non-governmental process of quality assurance and purposeful improvement through self reflection and peer review based on institutional mission, accepted standards, and public expectations.

Accredited InstitutionsAccredited Institutions

Native/Degree* Public Tribal Private Total A 56 7 1 64 B 11** 2** 7 20**

M 14 0 27** 41**

D 17 0 12** 29**

98** 9** 47** 154

*Highest Degree Offered**Includes Institutions Accredited at Lower Degree Level and Candidate at This Degree Level

Candidate InstitutionsCandidate Institutions

Native/Degree* Public Tribal Private Total A 1 0 0 1 B 1** 0 2 3**

M 1 0 0 1 D 0 0 3 3

3** 0 5 8**

*Highest Degree Offered**Includes International Institution

Distribution*Distribution*

A** B** M** D** TotalAlaska 2 0 3 1 6Idaho 3 2 2 3 10Montana 11 3 5 2 21Nevada 1 3 2 3 9Oregon 15 3 16 11 45Utah 4 2 4 4 14Washington 29 9 10 8 56International 0 1 0 0 1

65 23 42 32 162*Accredited and Candidate Institutions**Highest Degree Offered

AssurancesAssurances

IntentionsIntentions:: The institution has clearly defined and appropriate educational objectives consistent with its mission and characteristics.

CapacityCapacity:: The institution has conditions and resources to achieve its objectives.

AchievementAchievement:: The institution is substantially accomplishing its mission and purpose.

SustainabilitySustainability:: The institution is organized, staffed, and supported to continue to do so.

NutshellNutshell

What?

With What?

So What?

Now What?

RubricRubric

You never know a line is crooked unless you have a straight one to put next to it.

Socrates

EnforcementEnforcement

You can get more with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone.

Alphonse Capone

CriteriaCriteria

The Eligibility Requirements, Standards, and Related Policies form a flexible framework of qualitative, non-prescriptive statements that enables institutions with divergent missions, philosophies, and characteristics to manifest essential principles of quality and effectiveness.

StandardsStandards

MessengerMessenger

These are but the shadows of the things that have been. That they are

what they are, do not blame me.Ghost of Christmas Past in A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens)

AnticipationAnticipation

Chaos is come again.Othello in The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice (William Shakespeare)

PredicamentPredicament

The trouble with our times is that the future isn’t what it used to be.

Paul Ambroise Valéry

EvolutionEvolution

While we flatter ourselves that things remain the same, they are changing under our very

eyes from year to year, from day to day.Charlotte Perkins Gilman

AdvancementAdvancement

Most people are in favor of progress; it’s the changes they don’t like.

Anonymous

Homo AcademicusHomo Academicus

When the center of the universe is discovered, a lot of people will be disappointed to find they aren’t it.

Bernard Bailey

Barometer of ChangeBarometer of Change

You can judge your age by the amount of pain you feel when you come in contact with a new idea.

Pearl Buck

ExpectationsExpectations

OutcomesImplied Explicit

What does that mean?

AchievementsAssumed Assessed

How do you know?

EvidenceAnecdotal Verifiable

Show me the data!

DissonanceDissonance

Do you ever feel like the whole world is a tuxedo and you’re a pair of brown shoes?

George Gobel

SkepticismSkepticism

Weighing the pig will not make it fatter.Trudy W. Banta

RepudiationRepudiation

I believe in looking reality straight in the eye and denying

it. Garrison Keeler

PretensePretense

The secret of success is sincerity;Once you can fake that you’ve got it made.

Jean Giraudoux

RhetoricRhetoric

Speech is conveniently located midway between thought and action, where it

often substitutes for both.John Andrew Holmes

Accountability is problematic when there is not clarity of expectations or agreed-upon goals, and that lack of

clarity has long been a characteristic of social welfare in the United States.

Sheila Suess Kennedy

IssueIssue

IssueIssue

Accountability is problematic when there is not clarity of expectations or agreed-upon goals, and that lack of

clarity has long been a characteristic of [higher education] in the United States.

Sheila Suess Kennedy

Self EvidentSelf Evident

Most of us do not look as handsome to others as we do to ourselves.

Assiniboine Tribal Proverb

Assessment – Real WorldAssessment – Real World

How am I doing?Ed Koch

RelevanceRelevance

How does this talk grow corn?Hopi Tribal Proverb

RedirectionRedirection

When you discover you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount.

Dakota Tribal Proverb

Paradigm ShiftParadigm Shift

Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.

B. F. Skinner

StrategyStrategy

We need elucidation of the obvious more than investigation of the obscure.

Oliver Wendell Holmes

PerspectivePerspective

The challenge is for us to see beyond the innumerable fragments to the

whole, stepping back far enough to appreciate how things move and

change as a coherent entity.Margaret J. Wheatley

VisualizationVisualization

Seeing is different from being told.African Proverb

WorldviewWorldview

What you see depends on where you stand.Albert Einstein

ObservationObservation

You see, but you do not observe.Sherlock Holmes in A Scandal in Bohemia (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

ReinforcementReinforcement

Here we have an opportunity of expounding more clearly what has already been said.

René Descartes

EnlightenmentEnlightenment

Understanding a system is not possible from analysis of the parts. Understanding

is derived by synthesis of the roles or functions of the parts in the system in

which they are contained.Russell Ackoff

Isolated FunctionsIsolated Functions

Interlocking FunctionsInterlocking Functions

Fit OnlyFit Only

Fit and ContextFit and Context

Systems ApproachSystems Approach

Method consists of two correlative and complementary processes: 1) AnalysisAnalysis of complex totalities into their parts; and 2) SynthesisSynthesis of the parts into their totality.

However, the two processes by themselves are imperfect and require each other for the full development of

knowledge and understanding.Joseph L. Esposito

CharacteristicsCharacteristics

AnalysisAnalysis

Reductionistic

Take Apart

Isolate

Knowledge of Function

SynthesisSynthesis

Holistic

Put Together

Correlate

Understanding of Purpose

AnalysisAnalysis

IntentionsIntentionsMissionGoals

StrategiesStrategiesPolicies

Plans

CapacityCapacityResources

Infrastructure

OutcomesOutcomesInstitutional

Student Learning

SynthesisSynthesis

QualityQualityInstitutionalEducational

FulfillmentFulfillmentMissionPurpose

EffectivenessEffectivenessProcessesPractices

SustainabilitySustainabilityAdaptability

Viability

Concluding ThoughtsConcluding Thoughts

It is not only what we do, but also what we do not do, for which we are accountable.

Moliére

Good intentions don’t excuse poor results.Dirk Zeller

Actions speak louder than words.Fran Lebowitz

Never mistake motion for action.Ernest Hemingway

If you’re going through hell, keep going.Winston Churchill

Thank You!Thank You!