INTRODUCTION AND GENERAL INFORMATION

Preface

Accreditation is a process of recognizing educational institutions for performance, integrity, and quality that entitles them to the confidence of the educational community and the public. In the United States this recognition is extended largely through nongovernmental, voluntary institutional or professional associations that have responsibility for establishing criteria, visiting and evaluating institutions at their requests, and approving those institutions and programs that meet their criteria.

In American postsecondary education, accreditation performs a number of important functions, including the encouragement of efforts toward maximum educational effectiveness. The accrediting process requires institutions and programs to examine their own goals, operations, and achievements, and then provides the expert criticism and suggestions of a visiting evaluation committee, and, later, the recommendations of the accrediting body. Since the accreditation is reviewed periodically, institutions are encouraged toward continued self-study and improvement.

Institutional accreditation is granted by the regional accrediting commissions or the associations of schools and colleges that together cover institutions chartered and/or licensed in the United States and its possessions. These commissions or associations accredit total operating units only, not parts of them.

Specialized accreditation of professional schools and programs is granted by a number of national organizations, each representing a professional area such as architecture, law, medicine, or social work. Though each of these organizations has its distinctive definitions of eligibility, criteria for accreditation, and operating procedures, most of them have undertaken accreditation as one means of protecting the public against professional incompetence.

While the procedures of the regional accrediting bodies differ somewhat in detail to allow for regional variations, their rules of eligibility, basic policies, and levels of expectation are similar. Given these variations in detail, accreditation at the postsecondary level is intended to fulfill the following purposes:

1. foster excellence in postsecondary education through the development of criteria and guidelines for assessing educational effectiveness;

2. encourage institutional improvement of educational endeavors through continuous self-study and evaluation;

3. ensure the educational community, the general public, and other agencies or organizations that an institution has clearly defined and appropriate educational objectives, has established conditions under which their achievement can reasonably be expected, appears in fact to be accomplishing them substantially, and is so organized, staffed, and supported that it can be expected to continue to do so; and

4. provide counsel and assistance to established and developing institutions.

Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges

Founded in 1917, the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges is a voluntary, nongovernmental organization for the improvement of educational institutions and for the development of better working relationships among schools and postsecondary institutions. Membership follows accreditation by either the Commission on Colleges or the Commission on Schools.

The Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges is one of six similar regional associations in the United States which accredits schools and colleges. The Northwest region includes Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington. Control of the Association is vested in its institutional members who meet annually in convention to transact the business of the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges.

Commission on Colleges. The Bylaws of the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges assign to the Commission on Colleges the responsibility for evaluating and accrediting postsecondary institutions. The Commission consists of twenty-four members plus a chair, and the executive director who is ex-officio. The members are elected at the annual meeting for staggered three-year terms. Provision is made for different types of institutions and the general public to be represented on the Commission. Commissioners serve without compensation, and those who are institutional representatives are currently active on the faculties or staffs of postsecondary institutions.

The Commission normally meets twice a year, but various committees meet more frequently to facilitate the Commission's work. Its day-to-day activities are conducted by an executive director and staff.

From time to time, the Commission revises its standards for accreditation. The leadership for these efforts comes from the Commission's Standing Committee on Standards, Policies and Procedures. The Standing Committee, aided by the Commission staff, prepares drafts of any standards to be considered for revision. In many instances, the Standing Committee also seeks the assistance of faculty members and administrators from member institutions whose expertise is relevant to the standard(s) being revised. Once draft revisions are completed, they are distributed for comment and suggestions to the president and accreditation liaison officer of each member institution. The Standing Committee then further revises the standard(s) based upon comments from member institutions. When final drafts are prepared, they are once again distributed to member institutions for a vote. Revised standards are "official" after a vote of affirmation by the member institutions.

Definition of Institutional Accreditation. Accreditation by the Commission on Colleges of the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges means that a postsecondary institution's own goals are soundly conceived, that its educational programs have been intelligently devised, that its purposes are being accomplished, and that the institution is so organized, staffed, and supported that it should continue to merit confidence.

The initial step for the developing postsecondary institution is to seek recognition as a Candidate for Accreditation. While candidacy does not ensure accreditation, it is a status of affiliation with the Commission on Colleges that indicates that an institution has achieved initial recognition and is progressing toward accreditation. The Accreditation Procedural Guide, pages 5-22, provides complete information on Candidate for Accreditation. A very mature, stable postsecondary institution may submit the basic application materials and request approval from the Commission on Colleges to bypass Candidate status and proceed with a comprehensive self-study and evaluation for accreditation. Maturity and stability are emphasized. Most institutions are expected to seek Candidate status first.

When granted, accreditation is not partial. It applies to the entire institution in operation at the time of the most recent full-scale evaluation. It indicates that each constituent or related unit has been examined and has been found to be achieving its own particular purposes satisfactorily, although not necessarily all at the same level of quality.

Substantive changes initiated subsequent to the most recent evaluation, which significantly alter the objectives, scope, or control, and/or establish instruction at a new geographic location are not automatically included in the institution's accreditation. Refer to Policy A-2 - Substantive Change, pages 100-105.

Accreditation by the Commission on Colleges takes into account and supports the diversity which exists among postsecondary institutions in American higher education. For example, member institutions include public and private, large and small, church-related and nondenominational, liberal arts and vocationally oriented, residential campus and commuter campus, and highly selective and open admission institutions. Quality cannot always be defined in the same terms, but must be evaluated in terms of the purposes the institution seeks to accomplish. Thus, the programs of two institutions may be quite different and not at all comparable, even though both are accredited by the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges.