Winona State University

Office of Assessment

Meeting with Dr. Garcia 3/4/98 : NCA Office - Chicago, IL

General observations

Three years is a long time to be out ahead of the accreditation thing...But this may afford us the opportunity to go further with the report than schools with less time. In terms of actually making plans to rectify any deficiencies that we note.

Focus on assessment will lessen in three years. It should not be the focus of the plan but instead be woven throughout. The new handbook apparently attempts to do this.

Process should focus on the self STUDY--not just on data. What does it all mean?

Focus should be on evaluation, not on simply description.

Acknowledge successes and well as challenges.

Focus on the integrity of what we are doing NOW, as opposed to focusing on what we should be doing differently.

Decide when would be the right time to have him here. When would his visit make the most sense?

The seven principles might be a focal point for the study.

What we'll probably want to do is have each department report on what they're doing, summarize these reports, and then critically evaluate the overall state of the institution.

NCA 2001: The State of the University.

My observation: NCA isn't expecting us to be PERFECT institution. They are, however, expecting that what we are doing has integrity, and that we are honest is our evaluation of the institution.

In essence, the steering committee will be the group that looks at what we're doing and provides the evaluation of it. we may take the sections from individual reports, or we might create out own. But we're the ones who will decide about whether or not what we're doing is good. We will circulate our drafts which will meet with some resistance, and we will need to be able to stand behind our report and stand up to criticism.

We will need to work to create a structure for collecting and disseminating information.

We will need to create a culture that will permit the honest evaluation of ourselves and the university.