Accreditation Summary Faculty and Staff Assembly

1
Accreditation SummaryFaculty and Staff Assembly

• Presented April 3, 2009

2
General comments from body of letter

• Impressed with the definition and clarity of the
  Core Themes and their relation to the Mission
• The UAA mission, communities served and position
  within the UA system are apparent
• The UAA planning process is comprehensive and
  detailed (almost too complex)
• Overall well done. Substantive, well written,
  consistent with principles of revised standard
  one and report 1
• Needed improvements Mixing of indicators of
  achievement with activities intended to support
  those achievements leads to complexity of the
  goal outcome indicator structure

3
Commendations

• UAAs comprehensive planning process as reflected
  in its goals, outcomes and indicators of
  achievement
• Identification and clarity of core themes and the
  relationship of those core themes to the UAA
  mission
• Attention both to intended outcomes and to the
  enabling processes, structures and activities
  intended to foster achievement of those outcomes

4
Recommendations

• Simplify goal outcome indicator structure to
  clearly delineate and communicate indicators of
  achievement from enabling processes, structures
  and activities
• Ensure that indicators for core theme goals and
  intended outcomes provide direct measures of
  achievement
• Develop benchmarks or acceptable levels of
  achievement for indicators

5
Change in requirements for Report 1

• Provide a definition of Mission Fulfillment
  for UAA, and within that definition an
  interpretation of an acceptable threshold or
  extent of mission fulfillment

6
Work to be done for revised Report 1

• Clarify and simplify where possible Balance
  needs to evaluate complex organization with need
  to communicate our own judgments of condition,
  compliance with standards and accountability
• Clarify indicators Accomplishment of goals,
  achievement of outcomes separated from structure
  and process indicators
• Include direct measures for outcomes many need
  to be developed and collected for the first time
• Provide definition of Mission Fulfillment and
  acceptable thresholds of achievement thresholds
  are heavily dependent on definitions of
  indicators. What is an acceptable retention rate?
  Graduation rate?