By Dr. James E. Mackin
Whether we’re talking about regional or professional accreditation, there is always work to be done to ensure that the institution is progressing toward the next accreditation visit (the so-called “accreditation reaffirmation”). It is all too common that once an accreditation visit has taken place and all of the recommendations emanating from the visit have been addressed, an institution will essentially relax until the next visit is imminent. Then, the scramble begins again to ensure that the institution is in compliance with the accreditation requirements. Inevitably, the institution will at the very least receive recommendations from the next accreditation visit because accreditation standards have not been addressed in between accreditation visits.
The point is that institutions should never relax when it comes to accreditation requirements. It is useful to think about accreditation as a process by which institutions can ensure that they are always doing the right things. For example, it is a good thing for students that institutions constantly assess learning outcomes, and that is why accrediting bodies require continuous assessment of learning outcomes. Therefore, even without the looming threat of accreditation, institutions should continuously address accreditation standards on an ongoing basis.
One strategy that you can use to ensure that you are always paying attention to your accreditation standards is to maintain skeletons of the self-study teams even during periods when an accreditation visit is not imminent. The skeleton self-study teams would continuously monitor the institution’s compliance with accreditation standards, and if any “relaxing” does occur, the teams can bring concomitant issues to your attention for remediation. The point is that if the institution operates as if an accreditation visit is always on the horizon, then the issues that come up at an actual accreditation visit will be relatively minor and will be straightforward to deal with.