Preliminary findings returned by WASC

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Author: Damian Mendieta

The final stage of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) accreditation process came to a close on Feb. 10 after a visit by the WASC accreditation team. The team gave some preliminary feedback at the exit meeting, but the official report will not be published for at least a month.

“At the end of the visit, they don’t give us anything in writing; what they do is they verbally tell us what the recommendations are,” Assistant Dean for Academic Assessment and Planning Brian Harlan said. “At that time we’re not allowed to ask any questions- that meeting only lasted about 5 minutes.”

The WASC team only had two recommendations at the exit meeting according to Harlan.

“They would like us to include more direct assessment in our program review process,” Harlan said. “They would like us to develop institutional learning goals for the whole institution.”

In direct assessment, the team called for more constructive look at student-learning itself, including the college’s process of assessing student learning outcomes by each specific department. Additionally, WASC also called to question Occidental’s stance on institutional goals for all students, regardless of academic specialty.

The visit during Feb. 8-10 was the last step in a two-year accreditation process. The accreditation process began in August 2008 when the college submitted its Institutional Proposal for Accreditation, specifying what changes the college had implemented since the prior accreditation process. The next step was a site visit during the 2009-2010 academic year, focusing on Occidental’s academic resources and capacity.

Occidental decided to showcase the undergraduate research program, the core curriculum and the program review process during this most recent round of accreditation. WASC praised Occidental’s unique emphasis on research outside the science departments, as other institutions generally focus on scientific research, Harlan said.

Since the last accreditation 10 years ago, the college has improved key components of the core curriculum, emphasized assessment of academic departments and continued to be a national leader in undergraduate research.

While the 2000 WASC report praised the college as a “strong and vibrant institution,” it also gave three recommendations. The report said Occidental’s core curriculum, faculty governance system and budgetary policies were in need of more attention.

The WASC commission will now analyze the final Occidental site visit and make the final decision on the college’s accreditation. Harlan said it is unlikely that the commission would disapprove of the report once the visiting team has given a positive report.

“They have four weeks to finish the report,” Harlan said.  I’m not expecting anything negative.”

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