Accreditation Communications

September 30, 2024 - Mid-Cycle Accreditation Report Update: Moving Forward

The fourth section of ISU’s recently submitted Mid-Cycle Self-Evaluation accreditation report articulates the Institution’s plan to boldly Move Forward in response to ISU’s 2023-2027 Strategic Plan through five key initiatives: Academic Program Portfolio Alignment, Expanding Access and Opportunity through Partner Campuses, Increasing Graduation Rates and Closing Corresponding Student Achievement Gaps, Institutional Reporting, and Strengthening Assessment and Accreditation Support.

We invite you to peruse the Mid-Cycle Self-Evaluation accreditation report for further detail and to also attend the upcoming Mid-Cycle Accreditation town hall meeting scheduled for Tuesday, October 1 at 3:00 p.m.

September 24, 2024 - Mid-Cycle Accreditation Report Update: Assessment

The third section of ISU's recently submitted Mid-Cycle Self-Evaluation accreditation report demonstrates programmatic assessment through three ISU programs, each exemplifying a distinct assessment process. The BA in Psychology program is used to demonstrate the standard Academic Program Review (APR) process; the General Education program is used to demonstrate the unique General Education Program Review process; and the Program for Instructional Effectiveness (PIE) is used to demonstrate the Administrative and Support Unit Review (ASUR) process. 

While each of these three types of assessment processes are at different levels of maturity and development, they are all providing valuable information for the Institution, and they continue to be refined, enhanced, and improved.

We invite you to peruse the Mid-Cycle Self-Evaluation accreditation report for further detail and to also attend the upcoming Mid-Cycle Accreditation town hall meeting scheduled for Tuesday, October 1 at 3:00 p.m.

September 13, 2024 - Mid-Cycle Accreditation Report Update: Student Achievement

The second section of ISU's recently submitted Mid-Cycle Self-Evaluation accreditation report details institutional progress on seven key student achievement measures, including: fall-to-fall retention, first semester 2.5+ GPA, Gateway Math completion, persistence, six-year graduation rate, degrees and certificates awarded, and post-graduation success. These measures are published in an online dashboard that allows for disaggregation by various demographic groups and categories. Over the last few years, ISU has made substantial progress on most student achievement measures, and while efforts to mitigate some equity gaps and increase the Institution’s overall graduation rate continue, the dashboard reveals that ISU’s many new and ongoing student-centric efforts and initiatives are delivering significant results and continuing to improve student success.

We invite you to peruse both the online dashboard and the Mid-Cycle Self-Evaluation accreditation report for further detail.

September 4, 2024 - Mid-Cycle Accreditation Report Update: Mission Fulfillment

The first section of ISU's recently submitted Mid-Cycle Self-Evaluation accreditation report details how ISU's Mission Fulfillment efforts align with the University's Strategic Plan. In particular, ISU measures Mission Fulfillment in nine key areas of institutional mission, each with specific fulfillment criteria. These performance measures are published in an online dashboard and reflect ISU's ongoing progress related to student achievement, research efforts, community engagement, and institutional finance.

ISU defines Mission Fulfillment as meeting or exceeding benchmarks for at least seven of the nine Mission Fulfillment measures and having plans in place for improving any areas where benchmarks are not being met. ISU is currently meeting or exceeding benchmarks for eight of the nine measures, and therefore is fulfilling its mission according to this criteria.

We invite you to peruse the information associated with the above links to learn more.

August 22, 2024 - ISU's Mid-Cycle Evaluation Report

As mentioned in my previous welcome email, this year ISU is undergoing its mid-cycle review with our accreditor the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU). I’m writing today to let you know that the Planning and Institutional Effectiveness Steering Committee, in collaboration with the Office of Academic Affairs and the Office of the President, recently submitted ISU's Mid-Cycle Self-Evaluation Report. 

This document, which institutions submit to the NWCCU at the mid-point of their seven-year accreditation cycle, provides the opportunity for us to evaluate our student achievement and programmatic assessment efforts as well as our path forward for continuous quality improvement. For ISU, our Mid-Cycle Self-Evaluation Report also responds to the two NWCCU recommendations that we received as part of our 2021 Year Seven Peer-Evaluation Report. Specifically, the NWCCU recommended that ISU develop a more aspirational strategic plan and also consistently disaggregate student achievement indicators by various demographic categories. Our Mid-Cycle Report details ISU successful responses to these recommendations.

If interested, I encourage you to peruse this document and become familiar with its major findings and proposed actions and initiatives. On October 14-15, an NWCCU Peer-Evaluation Team will be coming to campus for our mid-cycle accreditation visit. In preparation for this visit, Academic Affairs will, over the next couple of months, be providing summaries of key sections of the Mid-Cycle Self-Evaluation Report, including recent findings on student achievement as well as ISU's plans for moving forward. In addition, Academic Affairs will be hosting a town hall on Tuesday, October 1st, from 3-4pm in order to provide an opportunity for the campus community to ask questions and gain further insight and understanding into our accreditation processes.

There is much in this report to be proud of, and I’m grateful for the significant efforts on the part of our faculty that have made the successes detailed here a reality.  I look forward to chatting more about this report and those efforts in the near future.

October 1, 2024 - Mid-Cycle Town Hall

Recording coming soon!

Presentation: Mid-Cycle Review Town Hall