ICBSP/ACBSP Region 8 Annual Conference 2011

1. ICBSP/ACBSP Region 8 Annual Conference 2011 The Preliminary Questionnaire Process Bruce Stetar Associate Dean, Business and IT Programs, Higher Colleges of Technology

2. Who Should be Seeing this Presentation? • Anyone who is thinking of applying for candidacy • Anyone who is a candidate for accreditation and has not yet completedtheir preliminary questionnaire, • Anyone who is a candidate for accreditation and is in the process of completing their preliminary questionnaire, • Anyone who is acting as a mentor for the first time and who is just looking for a refresher and a better understanding of the preliminary questionnaire process.

3. What is a Preliminary Questionnaire • The purpose of the Preliminary Questionnaire is for ACBSP to assist institutions in determining the readiness of their business school or program for obtaining accreditation using ACBSP Standards.

4. Disclaimer • For the most part there is no “right or wrong” when it comes to completing the Preliminary Questionnaire. • Completing the Preliminary Questionnaire involves gaining an understanding of the standards and criteria, as well as the accreditation process, and as such could be a one week workshop let alone a 1 hour presentation so this is going to be a fairly high-level look at the subject. • There are many people at this conference who could do this presentation, so I encourage you to talk them as well.

5. The Burden of Proof Rests with You A wise leader with a wealth of background in accreditation and quality assurance once told me “It isn’t quality if you can’t prove it” The ACBSP Standards and Criteria are how you prove that you have a quality school or program.

6. What is a Preliminary Questionnaire First and foremost the point of completing the Preliminary Questionnaire is to allow ACBSP too help you to determine how well your school or program already meets the ACBSP Standards.

7. What is a Preliminary Questionnaire Secondly it should be a learning process for you – one in which you learn about: • the standards and criteria, • the accreditation process and • primarily about your own school or program.

8. What is a Preliminary Questionnaire The self-analysis you perform to answer the preliminary questionnaire, will help you as an institution to determine: • What things you school or program needs to work on; • How long it will be before you can submit a self-study report; • What the standards actually cover and how you can prove that you meet them; • What type of evidence ACBSP requires.

9. Answering a Preliminary Questionnaire The Preliminary Questionnaire documentation can be found on the ACBSP Website (www.acbsp.org) under the Accreditation Tab, under the tab for either the Associate Degree or Baccalaureate/Graduate Degree options.

10. Answering a Preliminary Questionnaire Make sure you use the most up-to-date version of the questionnaire. At present they are: • For the Associate Degree it is the “Preliminary Questionnaire April 2010” • For the Baccalaureate/Graduate Degree it is “Preliminary Visit Questionnaire Criteria Revision J [1]”

11. ACBSP Standards and Criteria The accreditation standards employed by ACBSP are the reference point against which member institutions measure themselves and the criteria are how those institutions demonstrate their compliance with the standards.

12. ACBSP Standards and CriteriaKey Documents There are two key documents which detail the standards and criteria used by ACBSP. • ACBSP Standards and Criteria for Demonstrating Excellence in Associate Degree Schools and Programs, revised March 2011 • ACBSP Standards and Criteria for Demonstrating Excellence in Baccalaureate/Graduate Degree Schools and Programs - Rev B, November 2011

13. Answering a Preliminary Questionnaire Following are some general hints about answering the Preliminary Questionnaire: • Answering the Preliminary Questionnaire is not just about writing the document – it’s the overall process of self discovery for your school or program. • Be honest – hiding the fact that you don’t have processes to meet a specific standard/criteria will not help – it will only hurt you later. By acknowledging the fact, you can plan to correct the situation and thus have a better chance of being accredited. • The goal is to get your Mentor’s Gap Analysis to use as a starting point for the self-study process.

14. Answering a Preliminary Questionnaire Following are some general hints about answering the Preliminary Questionnaire: • Be prepared to spend a considerable amount of time on your preliminary questionnaire – it will vary from institution to institution but three months minimum is not unusual. • The more time you spend on the preliminary questionnaire the less time you potentially have to spend writing the self-study – in fact think of this as a mock self-study. • Ask you mentor lots of questions – this should be the primary learning phase for you in terms of understanding the accreditation process and the standards and criteria.

15. The Results of a Preliminary Questionnaire • Based on your Mentor’s Gap-analysis you may need considerable time between the preliminary questionnaire and actually writing the self-study to put in place the actions recommended. • Remember the gap analysis points out things you need to do before writing your self-study – not merely how to rewrite answers.

16. The Process • There are a number of different strategies to the process of answering the preliminary questionnaire – each with pros and cons: • Having a single person write the document • Having a group of individuals write the document with each person, or team of people, answering a section of the questionnaire • Having a consultant write the document – never advised. • My personal preference would be to have one person write the document with a support group supplying the necessary data. This ensure consistency in the questionnaire. • However, the group approach involves more people in the process and expands understanding of accreditation in your school or program and can be very beneficial if coordinated properly.

17. Writing the Document • Your answers to thePreliminary Questionnaire must follow exactly the format presented in the documents, which in turn follow the standards and criteria very closely. • Make sure you answer answering each question/criteria in sequence. • Every question/criteria must be addressed • If you do not have processes to report for a criteria, then either report you have no processes or report on your plan to develop processes to meet that criteria. • If a criteria absolutely does not apply to you - provide a rationale as to why it does not. Never leave it blank.

18. Writing the Document • There are no guidelines for the length of a preliminary questionnaire - you need to write as much as is required to respond to each question/criteria. • However, 60 to 80 pages should be sufficient. • There are no “correct answers” since the answer will be different for every school or program who completes a questionnaire - the key is to be honest and not leave questions/criteria unaddressed. • Evidence rules.

19. Writing the Document Overriding Concepts: • The key again is “proof”. • If you answer “yes” to a question or criteria – you then have to show why the answer is yes. • Yes we have a mission statement and it can be found on page 26 of the Catalogue – see Appendix A. • Yes we a have policies on honesty - The schools plagiarism, cheating, and academic honesty policies can be found on pages 100-120 of the Catalogue – see Appendix A. • It is a self-analysis – so be honest • Consult your mentor if you aren’t sure about something, seek their explanations through out the process. • Close the Loop.

20. The Standards and Criteria – Closing the Loop - Evidence Policies, Procedures (surveys, benchmarking, etc.) Narratives Strategic Plans Databases Dept/Div Plans Spreadsheets Personal Plans Documents Graphs Minutes of Meeting Tables 3 – 5 sets of trend data Recommendations of taskforces/committees Narratives Process Data Actions Analysis Measures/KPIs Recommendations

21. ACBSP Standards and CriteriaFormat In general each of the sets of Standards and Criteria listed above employ six main standards, each of which then have sets of criteria used by institutions to demonstrate compliance with that standard. In general the standards are: Institutional Overview 1. Leadership 2. Strategic Planning 3. Student and Stakeholder Focus

22. ACBSP Standards and CriteriaFormat 4. Measurement and Analysis of Student Learning and Performance 5. Faculty and Staff Focus 6. Educational Process Management

23. ACBSP Standards and CriteriaEvaluation Ultimately your institution will evaluated based on, or measured against, its application of these standards and criteria. Basically, during the gap analysis, your mentor will look to see if: • You have a process in place dealing with the standard/criteria in question • Is that process being applied • Is that process generating data • Is that data being analyzed and reviewed (3 to 5 cycles) • Are the results being used to generate recommendations to improve the institution or program. • Are those recommendations being translated into action plans

24. The Standards and Criteria – Closing the Loop - Evidence Policies, Procedures (surveys, benchmarking, etc.) Narratives Strategic Plans Databases Dept/Div Plans Spreadsheets Personal Plans Documents Graphs Minutes of Meeting Tables 3 – 5 sets of trend data Recommendations of taskforces/committees Narratives Process Data Actions Analysis Measures/KPIs Recommendations

25. The Result of the Process Ultimately your Mentor will produce a Gap Analysis • The Gap Analysis will show where your mentor thinks you do or do not meet the standards and criteria. • That Gap Analysis will become the basis for a plan of action for your institute to implement processes to fill the gaps. • That plan will tell you when you will be ready to write your self-study. • The Preliminary Report will become a “first draft” or working document for your self-study

26. In Closing • Be Honest • Provide Evidence • Show How you Close the Loop • Take Your Time Answering the Preliminary Questionnaire, it will pay off – the more you do now the less you do later. • Ask Your Mentor Questions.

27. Writing a Preliminary Report “Questions”