ALO Report
Notes from the 2015 WASC ARC
1. Assessment Leadership Academy Alumni Symposium
Concerns raised by other schools—discussions will be on-going and require reporting of efforts from
other schools.
a. How to mesh or crosswalk secondary (professional) accreditation agencies like ABET and NASAD
with WASC expectation for program review?
b. How to repackage the self-study needed for secondary accreditation agencies, which often use
metrics that do not correlate to WASC standards for direct assessment (compliance versus
improvement). Often professional agencies ask “How are you succeeding in meeting
benchmarks” whereas WASC asks “How are you improving given the data you’ve derived?” This
is where assessment efforts may be misaligned.
c. How do the WASC standards in the Handbook map to standards for other accreditation
agencies? For example, how can “core competencies” be addressed in a way that satisfies both
secondary accreditation and WASC and not add to the workload of departments and programs?
d. How to start developing learning outcomes in graduate programs that can link to the larger
institutional mission as well as to WASC expectations for assessment and program rigor?
e. In the case of NASAD, they have rejected any of the formal methodologies for assessment
spelled out by WASC. How to then stave off competing mandates from secondary accreditation
and WASC?
2. ALO Forum
Briefing by U.S. Under Secretary Ted Mitchell, “The Linkage between Regional Accreditation and Higher
Education”
The role of the ALO is to ensure communication of institutional quality and rigor.
The accreditation process as the Department of Education sees it:
WASC
STATE
FEDERAL “America’s Promise”
Presidential Mandate to open access to higher education
Outcomes (increased attendance and completion) that reflect
high(er) quality
The biggest concern for the federal government is how to increase accessibility for a wider diversity of
students (not just under-represented minorities, but regions, social classes of individuals, veterans,
returning single parents, etc.) while still maintaining if not increasing rigor and keeping education
affordable? This concern raises several issues:
a. Adapting to this diversity means experimentation with modality. However, what are the
mechanisms in place that can guarantee those modalities are working and producing
meaningful learning? And how are we at the forefront of innovation that builds new pathways
for new interests and learning styles? We also need to keep in mind that “experimentation” is
not necessarily a guarantee of success. IN light of these discussions, the Department of
Education has created s a website that houses links to data and “best practices” that are
emerging for digital technologies “for learning supports the education of adult learners and their
teachers and extends educational opportunities to reach new groups of students”
(http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/pi/AdultEd/tdlearn.html)
b. How do we ensure that the learning done in college is long-standing. One of the new mandates
being rolled out for “career colleges” is the “gainful employment” regulations :
To qualify for federal student aid, the law requires that most for-profit programs
and certificate programs at private non-profit and public institutions prepare
students for "gainful employment in a recognized occupation." Under the
regulations finalized today, a program would be considered to lead to gainful
employment if the estimated annual loan payment of a typical graduate does
not exceed 20 percent of his or her discretionary income or 8 percent of his or
her total earnings. Programs that exceed these levels would be at risk of losing
their ability to participate in taxpayer-funded federal student aid programs. (for
more information, see http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/obamaadministration-announces-final-rules-protect-students-poor-performing-careercollege-programs)
For now, the new regulations have been put in place to protect students from predatory forprofit schools that generally have poor completion rates. But there is talk about whether these
will eventually be applied to public institutions, especially with the proliferation of “certificate”
programs. According to the American Enterprise Institute: “The bottom line: all students and
their families deserve the kind of information that the federal government has been releasing
for career-oriented programs so that they can make informed decisions about their futures.”
(See https://www.aei.org/publication/are-graduates-from-public-universities-gainfullyemployed-analyzing-student-loan-debt-and-gainful-employment/)
c. Priorities for the Department of Education in the next few years will entail:
 Commitment to assessment that is competency-base as opposed to discipline-based.
 “Universal” Student Learning Outcomes that can accommodate the larger diversity of
institutions (i.e. AACU Degree Qualifications Profile)
 Thinking of how the DOE can provide momentum for quality and innovation.

Addressing the problem of student debt by rethinking the paradigm that links
affordability with access and outcomes.
The DOE is thus rolling out the following grant program to “to spur the development of
innovations that improve educational outcomes and make college more affordable for students
and families, and to develop an evidence base of effective practices.” (for more information,
see http://www2.ed.gov/programs/fitw/index.html?exp=0)
3. Other miscellaneous announcement
a. WASC Portal (annual report) will be open from May 1-21. There are some new categories of
information that will be required this year. (The ALO has already contact the Business Office
and IRO to let them know about these requirements).
https://wascsenior.app.box.com/s/gu91e2cmdexyq8kjs6la85xgo302vgw0
b. For those who wish to see the revised website for institutions and what our profile now houses
(included visiting team report and action letter), see:
http://www.wascsenior.org/institutions/university-hawaii-hilo
c. California SB-1247: As of September 2014, all institutions offering degrees need to receive
Candidacy by July 1, 2017 and Accreditation by July 1, 2020 from a national or regional
accreditation agency approved by the U.S. D.O.E.
d. C. WSCUC has imposed a moratorium on further international applications while a study is
being conducted on what has been learned from working with overseas institutions in the
pipeline. They are:
 Abu Dhabi University (Candidacy)
 American University of Armenia (Accredited)
 Amity University (Eligibility Granted)
 Anglo-American University (Candidacy)
 Bilgi University (Eligibility Granted)
 CETYS (Accredited)
 United Arab Emirates University (Eligibility Granted)
 United States International University (Accredited)
 Universidad de Las Americas (Eligibility Granted)
 Universidad Europa de Madrid (Applying for Eligibility)
 Universidad Peruana De Ciencas (Eligibility Granted)
 University of the South Pacific (Applying for Eligibility)