The Volunteer Information Portal (VIP) is for Peer Reviewers and other volunteers in our community. A person’s VIP account allows them to: create and update their profile; share areas of expertise and necessary details to be considered for future volunteer opportunities; view current team information and see peer reviewer history via My Teams; and access the Key Indicators Dashboard (KID).

When several operationally separate units are governed by a single board with a central system administration, the purposes of accreditation will more nearly be served by close coordination between the institution, the system’s central administration, and the Commission during the period of self-analysis, the on-campus visit, and the Commission hearing. These guidelines are designed to assist all concerned in arriving at a clearer understanding of institutional purposes and accomplishments, while preserving integrity and autonomy for the institutions within a system.

This form is used by Accreditation Visit and Thematic Pathway for Reaffirmation Visit teams to convey its recommendation to the Commission.

2023 Handbook: This sample email template is for use by the visit chair in the initial communication to team members.

2023 Handbook: These directions and template are for use by the institution when preparing the institutional report.

2023 Handbook: These directions and template are for use by the visiting team when preparing the team report.

2023 Handbook: This worksheet is for use by teams to assist in reviewing the institution’s report and identifying key issues for the accreditation visit.

This provides a sample agenda for the first review team videoconference meeting for an Accreditation Visit.

A sample of the schedule an ALO completes as a draft and presents it to the team chair and WSCUC staff seven weeks before the remote review.

This spreadsheet provides a sample schedule of meetings for visits.

This guide is for institutions considering entering into agreements with unaccredited providers and is designed to be referenced in conjunction with the Agreements with Unaccredited Entities Policy.

When an accredited institution enters into an agreement with an unaccredited entity with the intent that the latter will provide services to the accredited institution, the accredited institution must ensure that the services provided by the unaccredited entity comply with the Commission’s Standards and policies.

This guide describes the responsibilities of an institution accreditation team’s assistant chair in providing support for the team and chair throughout the accreditation process.

This email announcement is used by the institution to notify its general population (faculty, staff, students, board members, and alumni, as appropriate) of the confidential email address available for submitting comments to the review team before or during a WSCUC site visit.

This is a template of the language that could be used to notify an institution’s community of their opportunity to share information with WSCUC as part of the review via the confidential email. Submissions to the confidential email are not accessible to institutions.

One of four forms that WSCUC uses to address institutional compliance with federal regulations, this form is completed by teams in evaluating the reliability and accuracy of the institution's assignment of credit hours. During the Accreditation Visit, teams complete this form and add it as an appendix to the Team Report.

A completed copy of this form should be appended to the team report for all comprehensive visits to institutions that offer distance education programs and for other visits as applicable.

2023 Handbook: Under federal regulations, WSCUC is required to demonstrate that distance education programs are reviewed during the comprehensive accreditation/reaffirmation process. This guide details specific elements to be included in upcoming reviews, to ensure that each team is reviewing distance education programs in a consistent manner.

This guide provides suggestions for team members when drafting the preliminary team report prior to the visit.

A sample agenda for the review team to follow in the Executive Session meeting prior to the site visit.

There are four forms that WSCUC uses to address institutional compliance with some of the federal regulation’s affecting institutions and accrediting agencies. During the visit, teams complete these four forms and add them as an appendix to the Team Report.

A webinar for fall 2021 review team members preparing to participate in an accreditation review. Recorded on August 19, 2021.

This guide provides instructions for institutions submitting the institutional report, including how to set up a Box.com account and uploading the report and other supporting materials.

This form is signed by an institution’s CEO to affirm the accuracy of the information presented in the institutional report and the intention to comply fully with WSCUC’s Standards and policies.

This form is completed by review teams to demonstrate the monitoring of an institution’s recruiting and admissions practices, in compliance with federal regulations.

This guide is intended to help team members prepare for meetings with institutional representatives and ask questions that will result in useful information.

2023 Handbook: This form should be completed and included as an appendix to the team report for all visits in which off-campus sites were reviewed. One form should be used for each site visited.

2023 Handbook: This guide provides the definition of off-campus locations, the responsibility of institutions in reporting these locations to WSCUC, and how these locations will be incorporated as part of the review or visit process.

This Guide describes the visit logistics for Accreditation Visit, Seeking Accreditation Visit & Special Visit team members, including the team roster, travel and hotel arrangements, and reimbursement.

This form is completed by team members and submitted to the ALO to arrange the logistics prior to an onsite visit to the institution.

This form is signed by Commission members, Committee members, review team members, professional staff, and other representatives of the Commission to denote agreement with the Commission’s Conflict of Interest Policy and ethical conduct expectations and confirm the disclosure of all potential Conflicts of Interest.

Teams complete this form to document the review of the institution’s student complaints policies, procedures, and records in accordance with federal regulation.

This document helps users understand the Student Outcomes Overview (SOO) by providing tips for reviewing the SOO, general questions to ask when considering the data, and an overview of the metrics included. The SOO is a one page summary of student outcomes data compared to peers and national values for WSCUC accredited institutions that serve undergraduates.

This document provides instructions for institutions to prepare the SOO narrative. SOO narratives demonstrate an understanding of student outcomes performance and demonstrate a proactive approach to improvement.

This guide describes the role and responsibilities of an institution review team’s chair as part of the institutional review process.

This guide describes the role and responsibilities of an institution review team’s members as part of the institutional review process.

This memo concerns the transparency of information and reports following the review of an institution, describing the type of information that will be publicly available versus the information that will remain confidential.

This guide contains descriptions of the various documents that may apply to an upcoming review and links to these documents on the WSCUC website.

Under federal regulations, WSCUC is required to demonstrate that it monitors the institution’s transfer credit policy and practices. This form is to be completed by teams during the review process.

The Understanding the 2023 WSCUC Standards provides material to help facilitate an institution’s self-evaluation under the Standards; this document complements and expands the instructions in the 2023 Handbook of Accreditation and should be used in conjunction with the Handbook.

This guide primarily describes the interactions between WSCUC and institutions during site visits that take place on the institutional campus. It does not detail what happens during Offsite Reviews, which are conducted remotely. However, some of the pre-visit preparations are related to both the Offsite Review and Accreditation Visit, so there are necessarily some references to those reviews in this guide.

An overview of the timeline and process for peer review teams participating in an accreditation visit, seeking accreditation visit, or special visit, including the actions to be taken by team members, WSCUC staff, and the institution before, during, and after the visit.