LCCC Begins Middle States Accreditation Process
Finnegan Beatty | Writer
It occurs every ten years, covers more than 500 colleges and institutions, and takes over two years of tireless dedication to complete. It’s finally time for LCCC to begin accreditation for Middle States again. But what does Middle States do exactly?
“Middle States Accreditation is a third party that reviews all education institutions to make sure what we say we’re doing, providing, and offering to students, we actually are,” says Scott Aquila, the Dean of the Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Academic Liaison Officer for Middle States.
The Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) was established in 1952 to peer review colleges in the Mid-Atlantic region to ensure institutional integrity, which helps focus on improving the success of students.
LCCC was first accredited in 1972 and has been regularly reviewed until 2018 which was the last accreditation visit.
The upcoming accreditation will be completed by 2027, so the accreditation process is still in its early stages.
“We just finished the self-study design,” says Anne Ryan, an associate professor of English and co-chair of Institutional Internal and External Communications for Middle States. “We’re going to receive feedback on that in April; we do some revisions, and then that goes back out for approval in the summer.”
The self-study design is an outline that acts as the precursor to the actual accreditation report. The research and writing of the report will begin once the self-study design is approved.
College faculty and staff aren’t the only people involved, however. Aquila says that students are expected to take part in the process as well. “
When the VP of Middle States visits, he’s going to want to meet with the board of trustees, the president, faculty, AND students,” he said.
While Middle States Accreditation seems like a long and tedious process, Aquila nonetheless stressed its importance.
“It shows we’re doing good work as far as what we’re offering. It shows that we’re doing and offering good things for students. But it’s also giving us ideas of what other institutions are doing. So, it’s twofold.”
Ryan agrees.
“I like the idea of the self-study,” she said. “The fact that we create our own idea of what we’re going to do and then we do it because it gives us an opportunity to look at what we do. It’s really like self-check. We get to make sure that we’re doing a good job, and I think that’s really important.”
Comments