Learning how colleges are accredited by shed some light on what accreditation means.
As previously stated, the COCNASC eligibility requirements handbook determines all of the standards assessed by the COCNASC. This volume details every requirement that a school must fulfill as well as how each of these requirements is fulfilled and by whom. Additionally, this handbook details the periods to which the organization must abide.
COCNASC Corporate Standards and Eligibility Requirements
The eligibility requirements were most recently amended in January 2010 and therefore, the standards outlined below are effective as of that date.
As previously stated, The Accreditation Handbook states all of the requirements and standards presented by the COCNASC in exhaustive detail. This includes a complete description of the determinants for satisfaction of one of the 24 Eligibility Requirements (ER). Each ER is what the organization considers an integral component of a functional educational institution. The 24 ER are divided up into cycles that continuously repeat—that is, every given number of years, different ER are tested, moving progressively down the list until all have been accounted. In the year one report, or the result of the first accreditation review, the ER that are under consideration include:
- Operational Status: this sounds like a repeat of the overall score (they have the same name), but this version of the Operational Status ER concerns whether a school is fully prepared to begin serving as an educational institution.
- Mission and Core themes: this, obviously, regards the philosophy behind the school.
A school is then left alone for three years. Once this time has passed, though, a school is then under review for:
- Operational Focus and Independence: this is a consideration of whether a school is capable of viably functioning without someone needing to step in.
- Nondiscrimination: this simply ensures that the faculty and student body are not overwhelmingly monochromatic.
- Institutional Integrity: this is a determination of the moral fiber behind the school. Does the school allot grades that haven’t been earned to high-performing athletes? Does it simply bolster overall academic averages in order to appear like a better school? These would result in the failure of this review.
- Governing Board: are the people in charge a bunch of monkeys? This is for what the COCNASC is looking.
- Chief Executive Officer: obviously, one would need to scrutinize whoever’s at the top to ensure that things are being run properly.
- Administration: are the various offices (Academic Affairs, Registrar, Student Aid) doing their jobs?
- Faculty: are the teachers adequate?
- Educational Program(s): what, exactly, is the school offering academically?
- General Education and Related Instruction: are all of the necessary core competencies covered?
- Library and Information Resources: what is a school without an adequate library? Dysfunctional, that’s what.
- Physical and Technical Infrastructure: what sort of bunk school offers no athletic program or labs whatsoever?
- Academic Freedom: there will be no commie schools in the Northwest, thank you.
- Admissions: are they accepting students on viable grounds and upholding those standards?
- Public Information: unless the school is Ivy League, it’s likely necessary that they remain fairly transparent.
- Financial Resources: where is this school getting its funding? Clearly, it can’t be Cuba.
- Financial Accountability: how is this school spending its money?
- Disclosure: Once again, the school likely should remain transparent for the sake of slightly relevant minutiae like legality.
- Relationship with Accreditation Commission: brownnosing is essential in the corporate world.
If a school passes such a thorough review within its third year, then clearly, it should have very little to worry about moving forward. Nonetheless, there is another two reviews that this school must ensure, the first coming within five years of its inception:
- Student Achievement: is the school actually accomplishing anything?
- Institutional Effectiveness: is the school even worth existing?
Once again, if the prior eighteen standards are fulfilled, the year five evaluation should be simple and easy. The final evaluation is at year 7, and covers the following topics:
- Scale and Sustainability: is the school still going strong? Is it growing too quickly or too slowly?
- Operational Status: is this school functional overall?
If a school fulfills every one of these 24 requirements, it is then considered accredited. It will have to endure the same review every 7 years in order to maintain this accreditation.