In March of the year 2000, a group of peer evaluators, appointed by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) will visit Saint Michael’s College to assess whether we are meeting a detailed set of standards (see http://www.neasc.org/stancihe.htm). As part of the assessment process, Saint Michael’s self-study committee will prepare an institutional Self-Study Report and provide the visiting team with full access to the extensive set of subsidiary documents which will shape the Report. The self-study committee will work through the existing and extensive network of College planning committees and programs to produce these documents. In so doing, we will achieve one of the most important goals of any self-study; to involve as many members of the community as possible.

We are asking all committees and programs at Saint Michael’s to conduct their own self-appraisals. The self-appraisals should be completed and returned to Herb Kessel, the chair of the self-study committee, no later than March 22, 1999. The Saint Michael’s Self-Study Report will be based on the essential "facts" that will be distilled from each of the individual self-appraisals.

By its very nature, the self-study project will ask much from our community in terms of time, energy, and wisdom. In advance, we would like to thank you for your assistance in this process. The self-study committee could not determine whether the College is meeting NEASC standards without your help. The process itself should not only help us discover whether we are in compliance with the established standards but, at the same time, enhance our institution’s effectiveness.

The NEASC reaccreditation process is more formative or developmental than summative. It is a process designed to help an institution become more effective, not to deny it reaccreditation. As a community, we must prepare a document which provides NEASC with an appreciation of our history, a clear picture of where we are today, and a vision for the future. It would be naive for us to believe that in an institution as complex and vibrant as our own, divergent perspectives would not emerge on the nature of our communal enterprise. However, through a deliberative process that is honest, open, inquisitive, and critical, meaningful progress towards a shared vision of the College is possible.

There are a total of 120 standards encompassed within 11 major categories. It is important to stress that non-conformity with a particular standard will not likely diminish the likelihood of successful reaccreditation as long as the College is willing to develop strategies to respond to the shortcomings uncovered in the self-study process. The failure to uncover or acknowledge institutional weaknesses will bring into question the integrity of our self-study process.

What the self-study committee is asking from you is not a trivial undertaking; it requires reflection, inquisitiveness, and a real time commitment. Yet, we believe that the self-study process will offer members of our community a significant opportunity to help improve Saint Michael’s. The broad-based nature of the process should open-up lines of communication across the many divisions of the College leading to an enhanced sense of community and the cross-fertilization of ideas. We hope that the process will be a rewarding and valuable one.

As noted earlier, the Saint Michael self-study process will depend heavily on the ongoing work of the evaluation and planning processes of the College. That is why we need your help. Upon completion, the program and committee self-appraisals should be forwarded to both the appropriate vice presidents and to Herb Kessel, the chair of the self-study committee. The vice presidents, as program directors, will prepare their own reports for the self-study committee. These self-appraisals will be distilled and incorporated into the final Self-Study Report and will help us determine the extent to which the College is in compliance with the specific NEASC standards. All program and committee self-appraisals will be available in a special resource room for review by the NEASC assessment team.

The standards upon which we will be evaluated will be sent to all vice presidents, deans, and chairs. A set of NEASC standards will also be kept on reserve in the library and will be available on-line at our own web site. While the appropriate standards should be reviewed and considered carefully, the self-appraisals need not necessarily address each standard specifically or directly. This will be the job of the self-study committee. However, if you do see areas where Saint Michael’s is clearly not in compliance with a particular standard, please contact Herb Kessel.

The information or statistical data needed to validate whether Saint Michael’s is in compliance with a standard will not always be available from the existing planning committees or programs. One way the self-study committee will respond to this situation is by establishing special committees to help assess these specific areas. We will also be conducting a campus-wide survey to furnish some of the missing information. This survey will also provide the community with an opportunity to assess the College, anonymously, from a perspective beyond the confines of an individual program or committee.

The self-study committee is ultimately responsible for ensuring that a final report is prepared which addresses the 120 NEASC standards. It will be our job to keep the community well informed about the self-study process and to collect and assimilate the insights and experiences from as many people as possible into the final Report. We will need to ensure that there is a steady and open bi-directional flow of information. To this end, the self-study committee will share tentative findings, drafts, and the final Self-Study Report with the community through a series of retreats, newsletters, and open meetings. A Self-Study Web site will also be developed to broaden the flow of information. Members of the self-study committee will be available to help the units conduct their own self-appraisals. At the same time, the self-study committee will be asking the same type of questions that the NEASC evaluators might raise. Are the unit self-appraisals comprehensive, consistent, and well documented? Have they addressed the issue of outcomes? Do they identify strategies to enhance institutional strengths and remedy problematic areas? At the end of the process, the committee will establish a plan to help the College implement self-study initiatives.

The Self-Appraisal Format

NEASC expects that Saint Michael’s Self-Study Report will rely on an approach that emphasizes description (what are we doing), appraisal (how well are we doing), and projections (how can we do better). We would like you to follow this same approach as you begin your own self-appraisals.

Within this context, two key themes have emerged in NEASC’s discussions and literature.

The first is that whatever we do at Saint Michael’s must be mission driven. NEASC cares little about the nature of a college’s mission, assuming that it is appropriate for an educational institution, and more about how well it is implemented.

The second overriding concern of NEASC is institutional effectiveness, which they describe as the capacity of an institution to assess, verify, and enhance the fulfillment of its mission and purposes, giving primary focus to the attainment of its educational objectives. NEASC is asking us how we measure, for example, student outcomes, academic and otherwise, and how we use this information to improve the delivery of student services.

In preparing your own program or committee self-appraisals, these considerations should be formally addressed. Self-appraisals should be transferred both electronically and on hard copy to Herb Kessel no later than March 22, 1999 and should follow the framework described below.

This section lays the groundwork for the appraisal and projection sections of your report. Try to be comprehensive, objective, and, at this point, non-judgmental. Committees (and programs) should discuss not only their operations and procedures but also their areas of concern (e.g., the curriculum committee should review the way it operates and the curriculum itself).

• What is the purpose or function of your program or committee? You should not only describe the current status of your program or committee but also its historical context.

• What is the relationship between your department’s or committee’s goals and objectives and the mission of the College? If you have a mission statement of your own, please include that document either in your self-appraisal or as an attachment.

• Your program or committee should be described in the light of established College guidelines and documents (e.g., for academic units, your description should reflect the criteria embodied in the faculty regulations and departmental expectations).

Appraisal:

Appraisal is always more challenging than description. Astute judgements along with a sense of detachment, confidence, and clarity of thought will be required to understand the way that our prejudices may shape our appraisals and to be able to identify, candidly, our weaknesses and strengths. The appraisal section may become the most important section of your study. Again, committees and programs should assess their operations as well as their designated areas of jurisdiction or oversight. Please try to be as thorough as possible.

• What are your program’s or committee’s strengths and weaknesses? This might include some reflection on the constraints that challenge you to achieve as much as you might like.

• What are the distinctive characteristics of your program or committee?

• How does your program or committee assess its performance? To what extent are you achieving your goals and objectives? The appraisal process should reflect established College guidelines and documents (for academic units, departmental expectations and faculty regulations provide a base of comparison). Do you have objective evidence to support your conclusions? NEASC expects us to be able to verify, with "data," whatever we say.

• Where does your committee or program hope to be in the future? You should articulate clearly a set of strategies to remedy the shortcomings or deficiencies that you identified in the appraisal section.

• Do you have plans to take advantage of future opportunities?

• What resources will you need to become more effective? Try to be realistic and specific.

Please include any assessments or planning documents completed since the 1990 reaccreditation study with your self-appraisals (e.g., internal or external programmatic reviews or strategic plans). Also, please send along any documents you use for either internal or external consumption? (e.g., flyers, pamphlets, manuals, newsletters, or brochures).

While each program or committee is being asked to follow a common format, individual self-appraisals will vary considerably from one another in length, detail, scope, and complexity. We expect that some appraisals will be quite detailed while others may need to be no more than a few pages.

Remember, we need your completed documents no later than March 22, 1999.

|| Self-Study Homepage || Saint Michael's Homepage ||

Questions or comments relating to Accreditation should be directed to:
Dr. Herbert Kessel hkessel@smcvt.edu
last revised: May 26, 2000