UC Davis educational leaders have an important question to answer this spring: How should we judge ourselves as an educational institution? The answer will form the basis of self-study in preparation for accreditation visits from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges in fall 2002 and winter 2003. The accreditation process serves three purposes: * It is a means by which an institution proves to its future students, as well as potential faculty and staff members, that it meets certain minimum standards. * The process is an opportunity for an institution to study itself every decade or so and to ask, "How do we measure up with accredited institutions?" * Federal financial aid is available only to students attending accredited institutions: without this federal financial aid helping students pay their tuition, many universities could not survive. The UC Davis faculty and administration will share the responsibility of getting campus accreditation "reaffirmed," with members of the Academic Senate playing a major role in the process over the next three years, according to Patricia Turner, vice provost for undergraduate studies and the person in charge of organizing the three-year accreditation effort for UC Davis. The senate and administration will need to compare UC Davis against a number of WASC accreditation standards, ranging from institutional integrity, governance and administration to our many educational programs, our faculty and staff, and student services. Specifically, Turner expects the focus to include how the campus is handling General Education, diversity in curriculum as well as in the faculty and student body, and strategic planning -- issues highlighted in the 1992 accreditation team report. The WASC Steering Committee, led by Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Robert Grey, is also expected to consider educational issues particularly relevant to a large research institution, including graduate education and undergraduate research opportunities. What research universities offer "I suspect people will want to talk about what we, as a research university, have to offer to students," Turner says. In addition, the steering committee will consider issues such as accommodating the expected increase of new students from Tidal Wave II in the next decade and on-line learning. WASC is an independent, non-profit membership organization based in Alameda, one of six regional accreditation associations in the nation, with its Senior College Commission serving 146 accredited and candidate institutions in the region. Since UC Davis last underwent the accreditation process in the early '90s, WASC has substantially modified its process so that it will benefit the campus rather than result in a thick report that stands on a bookshelf until the next accreditation, Turner reports. In fact, the campus accreditation has been delayed by two years while the association reorganized the process. The new process aims to allow campuses to individualize the assessment, "looking at a combination of what we do well and what we'd like to do better," Turner says. When WASC decided to revamp its process, one goal was to recognize that larger universities like UC Davis handle education differently than small liberal arts schools, which offer more individualized attention to students, Turner said. In fact, UC Davis Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef has been a voice for large research universities for the past three years. He was appointed to a four-year term on the 21-member Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities that governs WASC. Focusing on two issues The chancellor says the campus must focus on two issues: the minimum standards -- "which we are very confident about" -- and a new idea: which educational aspects it wants to be measured for "educational effectiveness." Vanderhoef and his accreditation committee have been looking at the mechanisms of how to make the measurements for this brand-new idea. Vanderhoef says he believes the commission has to be cautious about educational effectiveness. "My concern is not with the concept -- I think it would be a wonderful required evaluation. Rather, I am concerned about the means we would use to measure effectiveness. "I cannot think of any flawless measures. As a simple example, let's say that post-graduation career success was used as a measure of effectiveness. What is 'success'? Does the fact that Harvard graduates make, on average, more money during their careers than the graduates of any other university make them the most 'effective'? The flaws in other measures are more subtle, but they are always there." Vanderhoef suggested that the result may be that accreditation teams will look for a "culture of evidence" that a university is continually looking for new ways to be more effective. "It is the notion, mistaken and rather haughty, I believe, that we will be able to advise institutions in black and white terms on whether or not they are actually being effective that gives me pause," he said. To prepare for the accreditation process, the campus will have quite a bit to review. This time, however, rather than create a huge new report, Turner hopes to use existing planning documents, such as academic plans being scrutinized by the Academic Planning Council this quarter, to support the accreditation effort. Regarding the minimum-standards part of accreditation, the new process promotes the idea of creating a Web-based data portfolio of various documents that deal with UC Davis education. "The association is very much encouraging us to use information generated for other purposes. We don't have to match the reports to be the same as other institutions." The accreditation schedule calls for the steering committee to complete a draft institutional review proposal by July 1. A self-study will be prepared during winter and spring quarters of 2001. WASC will send a team to review the campus's educational capacity in fall 2002, followed by an educational effectiveness review in winter 2003. Turner expects the accreditation process to offer a number of new perspectives for the campus. "This is an opportunity for us. By compiling all of this information and data, we will be able to see where our voids are, and then we will try to redress them."