As access to higher education becomes more affordable and convenient, an increasing number of “post-traditional” learners are signing up to earn their degrees.
These learners largely fall outside of what has been the traditional age and stage of 18-22 year olds leaving home for the first time and moving into campus housing for a full-immersion college experience.
Post-traditional learners may be returning to school after an initial (or second or third) attempt, likely work...
After receiving a ten-year reaffirmation, people kept asking me how I did it.
“What software did you use?”
“How did you measure quantitative reasoning across all disciplines?”
“Did all your students exceed your learning outcomes?”
They wanted answers. Instead of telling them “This software did everything,” I told them “I tried several softwares, most of which failed.” Instead of “I developed the perfect universal rubric,” I told them “We developed a rubric for...
San Jose State University (SJSU) developed Project Succeed to help improve retention and graduation rates, while also closing the achievement gap for Under-Represented Minorities (URMs).
The program has three major goals: strengthen SJSU’s core academic performance in graduation and retention, provide an improved supportive environment for URM students, and enhance the delivery and integration of academic and co-curricular support services.
To help achieve these goals, we...
Given we’ve just recently moved, I can’t count how many times I’ve been asked “So, what do you do working at Cal Poly?”
Now begins my instantaneous internal conversation… How to I respond? Where do I start? What is their knowledge level of higher education or assessment? Do I have the time to do this now?
Then my typical response: “I’m the Director of Student Affairs Assessment and Research.”
At this point, they typically insert blank stare and “Woah, that’s a...
Public universities are among the most important and influential institutions in our society. In the best of cases, public universities positively influence society through education of the next generation of leaders and the creation of new knowledge from research programs. But how do public universities ensure that they are appropriately reflecting the values and priorities of those they serve? And what if the public is conflicted about which values and priorities are most important?...
Since completing a college degree is vital to moving to a higher socioeconomic level, access to higher education is paramount. WSCUC and other accreditors have always maintained a strong focus on access to education. More recently, however, we are also dedicating significant attention to outcomes and measures of educational effectiveness, including retention, graduation and achievement of learning outcomes.
Higher education has a bad rap these days, and, to some extent, this is...
ALAMEDA, CA – The WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC) will host its 10th annual Academic Resource Conference (ARC) April 25 - 27 in Burlingame, California. At a moment of intense expectations and significant challenges for higher education, the conference brings together institutional leaders and stakeholders from across the region to discuss strategies and practices to support quality assurance, student success, and...
The WSCUC annual reporting portal will be open from May 1 - May 31, 2018. All eligible, candidate and accredited institutions are required to update and submit annual report information during this time period. ALOs will receive complete login instructions via email during the last week of April.
Minor revisions have been made to the for-profit financial indicators.
We will hold orientation webinars on May 2, 2018, 2:00-3:00 pm PDT and May 3, 2017, 2:00-3:00 pm...
The Institutions within Systems Governance Guide has been approved to accompany the Accreditation Reviews for Institutions within a System Policy, to provide assistance to institutions and reviewers of institutions within systems regarding interpretation of governance issues. With input from Commissioners and WSCUC staff, this guide was discussed at the November 2017 meeting and edited following...
