Accreditation 101 - Insight into your self-study process. 

March 27, 2009

Presented by Joanna Fulbright

With each week that passes, Ozarka is one week closer to writing the self-study.  The steering committee, along with the sub-committees have become more educated in evaluative writing, including:

• mistakes to avoid;
• goals to aim for; and 
• practical application

The most common problem HLC evaluators describe with self-study documents is "The self-study was descriptive and did not contain outcome data analysis."

How does this happen?

• data was not collected OR
• data was not analyzed OR
• the results were not utilized.

Some tips for the Criterion sub-committees when writing the self-study:

1. Use the five "W's" and "H's" (who, what, when, where, why, and how) to ask questions about each part of the core component.
2. Then ask how each part relates to the other parts.
3. Finally, ask how each part relates to the whole criterion.

The next step is to answer the questions.  Avoid words & phrases like: "Appears to," "I think," "I feel, etc...and remember you are trying to help a reader understand.  Answer the questions thoroughly and concisely.

What kind of data should we use when writing:

• Objective date from a compiled summary is best.
• Narrative data from unstructured instruments is OK.
• Must be derived from a scientific process.

Try putting this into practice when your sub-committees meet! 

These suggestions are a great way to brainstorm and begin gathering evidence needed for the self-study.

Deltha Shell also presented on evaluative writing techniques during an earlier steering committee meeting found here.

Any comments, suggestions or questions?

Leave your comments or email your comments to:

Joanna Fulbright, jfulbright@ozarka.edu 870-368-2064

Joan Stirling, jstirling@ozarka.edu 870-368-2007

Comments or suggestions to improve this newsletter to Communication co-chairs:

Kim Whitten, kwhitten@ozarka.edu 870-368-2060

Libby Cone, lcone@ozarka.edu 870-368-2002.