Accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), STCC is now starting our ten year accreditation review. This process requires the college to create a narrative of our present state, appraise our strengths and challenges and explain where, as an organization, we are headed. In short, describe, appraise, and project.
Since we had a positive experience using the techniques and philosophy of Appreciative Inquiry (AI) to produce a new strategic plan, we decided to use AI in accreditation. The AI approach aligns well with the accreditation process. Listed below is the way I envision the correspondence:
1) AI begins with an affirmative topic which would correspond to the subjects in the various NEASC standards.
2) AI then moves to discovery which would correspond to creating a narrative about that topic based on analysis and information.
3) AI moves on next to dream and design which in accreditation would correspond to appraising the college against the accreditation standard.
4) AI ends with destiny – what will be – which corresponds to the projecting the future of the college in the accreditation report.
On September 1st and 2nd we begin our accreditation with a summit for all working on the self-study. Throughout the year the committees in charge of the each of the eleven standards will meet, deliberate and begin writing. I expect that AI will infuse our work and enable us to produce a much more relevant analysis of the state of the college.
No comments:
Post a Comment