North Central Association Of Colleges Research Articles

Quality and innovation in American higher education accreditation: the case of the University of Phoenix

ABSTRACT In 1978, the University of Phoenix was among the first for-profit universities to receive accreditation from a prestigious regional agency: the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. Its accreditation marked a turning point in broader acceptance for the for-profit model in higher education and gave the University of Phoenix access to its primary source of revenue: federal financial aid. This case offers an example of how innovation in US higher education can happen rapidly and with relatively little controversy. The decentralised nature of accreditation means that new schools can shop around to find an accreditor that best meets their needs. Because accreditors are so closely entwined with federal actors, they will greenlight innovative programmes when they serve the federal interest. Finally, because higher educational quality is difficult to assess, accreditors can use output-based metrics, which are better at supporting novelty than input-based standards.

Adequacy in Faculty Standards in U.S. Regional Accreditation Commissions

Adequacy in Faculty Standards in U.S. Regional Accreditation Commissions

Share Your Voice: Online Community Building During Reaffirmation of Accreditation

<p>Generic University recently underwent a successful reaffirmation of accreditation process with The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. As part of the 3-year process, a committee, named the Education and Communication working group, was formed to inform and engage with the entire Generic community. This report describes the process and strategies this working group employed to achieve those goals in a distance learning environment.</p> <p>The primary charges of the Education and Communication working group were to (1) educate stakeholders about the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), the importance of accreditation, and their role in the accreditation process; (2) provide consistent and quality communication to ensure stakeholders are appropriately informed about HLC and the self-study process; and (3) create and execute an appropriate and supportive communication and education plan during the HLC self-study process. The Education and Communication working group primarily focused on internal stakeholders, including students, faculty, and staff. Additional outreach specifically addressed associated individuals, such as alumni and field site supervisors. Other institutions may define their constituencies differently but will find that the goals, plans, and strategies described here will help them to achieve involvement by their stakeholders in accreditation processes.</p>

Clinical Doctorate in Speech-Language Pathology

Clinical Doctorate in Speech-Language Pathology

LINKING GATEWAY TECHNICAL COLLEGE WITH WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT: THE SC JOHNSON—A FAMILY COMPANY STORY

Seven years ago, SC Johnson—A Family Company approached Gateway Technical College with a need to further strengthen their incumbent workforce's technical training and education. Retirements, brain drain, and competition for technical expertise were the forces driving SC Johnson to develop a comprehensive, flexible, and timely workplace education initiative. SC Johnson employees formed an Education Advisory Council to assess employee training needs. The original goal of the Education Advisory Council was to offer SC Johnson employees on-site opportunities to develop electrical and mechanical skills. Employee participation and increased interest in training opportunities led the Education Advisory Council to recommend expanding and diversifying course offerings, and ultimately the link program was launched. “Link” stands for learn, integrate, and know and serves as the mission statement of the Education Advisory Council. SC Johnson sought a partner to share both their exceptional commitment to education and the resources, talents, and opportunities to create and run a state-of-the-art Employee Training Center. Gateway Technical College was the ideal partner who could cooperatively participate in a program that met SC Johnson's training needs, yet afforded flexibility, expertise, and timeliness. The link story highlights the needs, opportunities, challenges, solutions, resources required, results achieved, and lessons learned when private and public entities collaborate to provide on-site training. Accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, the SC Johnson Employee Training Center is Gateway Technical College's fourth official campus.

Utilizing Assessment in Program Development and External Accreditation

Abstract This article focuses on the use of assessment in a higher education family science program. A mid-size, Midwestern university's experience in the use of assessment within both internal program planning and external accreditation review processes is described. Specific assessment procedures are explained within the context of using results to seek the Certified Family Life Educator designation from the National Council on Family Relations and to document program quality indicators as mandated by North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.

Pros and cons of partnering: a Vcampus perspective

“… increasingly in this distance education world institutions are not doing it alone. They are partnering with a company to help them, or through state alliances, they are partnering with other institutions to get it done.”— Steven Crow, Executive Director, North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.

TWO-YEAR COLLEGE DEVELOPMENT IN FIVE MIDWESTERN STATES : AN INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW

The word ''varied'' summarizes the organizational development, legal structure, and current missions and functions of publicly controlled two - year colleges in the five Midwestern states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin. The purpose of this article is to introduce readers to the post - high school educational histories of five states that have been members of the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools by specifically addressing three questions: (a) What were the key events in the history of the development of public two - year colleges in each of the five states? (b) What is the current organizational pattern of community colleges in each of the five states? (c) What are some of the key issues facing community colleges in each of the five states?

Agency of Change: One Hundred Years of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools

Agency of Change: One Hundred Years of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools

A certificate curriculum in worksite health promotion.

Omaha, Nebraska is a midwestern city with over 650,000 residents in the metropolitan area. Most individuals work in services (e.g., business, social, health, and education), trade (retail and wholesale), and government (local, state, and federal). It is the home office for Wellness Councils of America (WELCOA) and the Wellness Council of the Midlands. Many of the major industries in the Omaha area have been involved with the conceptualization and continuation of these wellness organizations. The University of Nebraska at Omaha offers bachelor’s and master’s degrees in both health education and exercise science. Nebraska Methodist College is a small private health professions college affiliated with a major health system in the Omaha area. The College has about 400 students, the majority of whom are enrolled in the baccalaureate nursing program. Other options for study at the College include respiratory care, sonography, and radiation therapy. The College, accredited by North Central Association of Colleges and Schools as a baccalaureate degree granting institution, began an 18-credit-hour health promotion specialist certificate program in 1991, which is the focus of this article.

Issues and Factors Involved in Credit and Placement for Accelerated Summer Coursework

This paper investigates the ways in which students' home schools currently respond to their participation in university summer programs and the effect of program accreditation on their responses. We also studied the factors that affect schools' policies toward summer coursework. Specifically, we compared the actions of schools for students who completed coursework in a fast paced, accelerated summer program in 1992, before accreditation by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, to those actions in 1994 after accreditation. Responses that were analyzed included: (a) giving course credit; (b) appropriate placement within the content area; and (c) placement in a special program. It was found that there was a significant increase from 1992 to 1994 in the number of students whose schools took one or more of these actions, mostly due to increases in the awarding of high school credit. An increase in credit given for required rather than elective courses and greater amounts of credit awarded were observed after accreditation. We also found that most schools do not have policies against awarding credit for outside coursework and that factors that facilitate credit include notice of the child's intent to take a summer course and petitions by parents for recognition of the course credit. The nature of the outside institution and the qualifications of the instructor were not important factors in school's decisions about awarding credit for summer coursework.

Assessment: Comments from the assessment plan review process

AbstractThe following is reprinted from the December 1992 issue of Briefing (vol. 10, no, 3, p. 8), published by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. North Central's Commission on Institutions of Higher Education approved a “Statement on Assessment and Student Academic Achievement” that in part expressed the expectation that “an institution has and is able to describe a program by which it documents student academic achievement.” After some experience in reviewing campus assessment plans, the panel members offered the following comments on what distinguishes good plans from not‐so‐good plans.

Specialized Accreditation and the Library

Accrediting agencies come in two sizes, the large regional associations that determine academic standards throughout the United States such as the Western Association of Schools and Colleges or North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, and smaller specialized agencies that determine specific criteria for academic programs such as Accrediting Bureau of Engineering Technology (ABET) or American Psychological Association (APA). On the surface, both types of accreditation are voluntary. However, essentials in the world of academia, such as government, state and local funding, are dependent on, at a minimum, regional accreditation. Thus, regional accreditation is sought by all. In the current world of tight funding, however, the role of specialized accreditation is taking on significance even though it plays a different, but similar role.

THE EVOLUTION OF REGIONAL ACCREDITATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION: THE ROLE OF THE NORTH CENTRAL ASSOCIATION, 1895–1934

This paper traces the factors which led to one regional association, the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools, adopting an accreditation role by default rather than by design. The failure of National Bodies to adopt this role is also high‐lighted, although their influence on regional bodies is clearly indicated. The change from a resources‐based to a process‐based accreditation system has been part of the long evolutionary process, but the difficulties inherent in this approach still confront the American system of Higher Education

Statistics in Nonstatistical Contexts

Statistics in Nonstatistical Contexts

Evaluation of performance within institutions

New Directions for Institutional ResearchVolume 1974, Issue 1 p. 67-80 Article Evaluation of performance within institutions H. Bradley Sagen, H. Bradley Sagen Professor of higher education at the University of Iowa and former assistant director of institutional research at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. An educational psychologist by training, he has served as associate director of the Iowa Cooperative Study of Post-High School Education and from 1964 to 1971 as executive director of the Committee on Liberal Arts Education of the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. He is the co-author with Fred F. Harcleroad and C. Theodore Molen of The Developing State Colleges and Universities (American College Testing Progam, 1969)Search for more papers by this author H. Bradley Sagen, H. Bradley Sagen Professor of higher education at the University of Iowa and former assistant director of institutional research at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. An educational psychologist by training, he has served as associate director of the Iowa Cooperative Study of Post-High School Education and from 1964 to 1971 as executive director of the Committee on Liberal Arts Education of the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. He is the co-author with Fred F. Harcleroad and C. Theodore Molen of The Developing State Colleges and Universities (American College Testing Progam, 1969)Search for more papers by this author First published: 1974 https://doi.org/10.1002/ir.37019740107Citations: 1 AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume1974, Issue11974Pages 67-80 RelatedInformation

Accreditation and Educational Reform

If it is true that there have been significant changes in the educational processes, what comparable modifications have been achieved by the several regional accrediting agencies whose responsibilities include the evaluation of secondary schools where such changes may have occurred? The author is a professor of higher education at the University of Colorado in Boulder and has served as president of the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. is no substitute for wise and vigorous action that will set in motion a continuous program of assessment and amendment.

The Certain Standards in Context

The Certain Standards ( report of the National Education Association's Committee on Library Organization and equipment, chairman: C. C. Certain) were adopted by the NEA in 1917, and also approved by the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools, and by ALA, who published them in 1920. Concerned with secondary school libraries, the standards were only advisory, but formed the basis of state and regional accreditation standards in the USA for over twenty years, and to British school librarians will seem remarkably practical and enlightened for their day. In particular, recommendations on the centralization in the library of audio-visual media suggest an early and authoritative source for the materials centre concept of today. The article traces the development of the school library art, and in particular the use of audio- visual materials, up to the publication of the standards, from the "school district libraries" of the 1830s to the rapid burgeoning in the 1890s and after. Quotations from the period illustrate the rapid growth of professionally-run school libraries, and the growing interest of teachers and librarians in audio-visual materials. The important contributions of C. C. Certain and Mary E. Hall are assessed, and the standards compared briefly with three contcmporancous publications.

The Role of Faculty in University Governance

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationNotes on contributorsAllan O. PfnisterAllan O. Pfnister is professor of higher education at the University of Denver. His article is a revised version of a paper presented at a workshop for new teachers held by the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools in Iowa City, August 21, 1969.

NEA and NCA Involvement in a School Controversy: Chicago, 1944-47

During the summer of 1933 an educational conflict began in Chicago which pitted the newly reorganized Board of Education against certain community groups that strongly opposed the board's philosophy of education and administrative ideology. So strong were the animosities engendered by this controversy that by the late 1930s fruitful dialogue between the two camps was all but impossible, and the conflict became a major power struggle in which each side sought to defeat the other. In the final resolution of the dispute, which was not achieved until 1946-47 with the demise of the school administration, the National Education Association, by way of its National Commission for the Defense of Democracy through Education, and the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools played decisive roles. Although both have been credited with promoting worthwhile reforms in the governance of the Chicago public schools, analysis of the work of these organizations leads to the contention that they were unfair and arbitrary toward the school administration in several important ways. In order to examine this claim in detail, however, it is first necessary to describe the salient features and evolution of the school controversy which plagued the Chicago community for fourteen years.