Every ten years, RPI undergoes a reaccreditation process with the Middle States Reaccreditation Agency, and every five years, the Institute undergoes a periodic review. These processes are designed to assess the performance of the Institute as a whole. Since February of 2004, RPI has been preparing for the reaccreditation process that is planned to be completed in the spring of 2006.
According to the Middle States Reaccreditation website, “the Middle States Commission on Higher Education was established to oversee educational quality and improvement through the accrediting process based on peer review” and is therefore “intended to strengthen and sustain higher education, making it worthy of public confidence and minimizing the scope of external control.” Eddie Knowles, vice president for student life, asserted that “Middle States is probably the most recognizable accrediting body in terms of higher education.”
Reaccreditation is important to the Institute, even though it is not required and is a completely voluntary decision, because only accredited schools are awarded certain funds. According to Dr. Don Steiner, program director for the nuclear engineering and engineering physics program and chair for the Middle States Self-Study Steering Committee on campus, this is a strong incentive to undergo the reaccreditation process. It “allows the Institute to stand back and take stock of where the Institute has strengths and build on those and where the Institute has weaknesses and try to work on them,” Steiner said.
The process in which the Institute is partaking is long and arduous. According to Registrar Sharon Kunkel, RPI will undergo a self-study that will provide “a chance for Rensselaer to see how it’s doing.” There are 14 standards in the program which the Institute is following; each is aimed at answering certain questions about the Institute and assessing such traits of the school as its mission and goal.
The purpose of this reaccreditation process, according to Steiner, is to “evaluate processes and how we assess the outcomes.” Factual data is required to “demonstrate that we have assessment processes,” stated Steiner.
Kunkel commented further on this, that Middle States wants “data that’s really going to be the heart and soul of the final report.” The results of these assessments are then used to improve what the Institute does. The entire procedure is meant to be quantitative and factual. “It is important that people understand that,” Steiner said.
In order to keep the work more organized, a team called the Middle States Self-Study Steering Committee has been devised. As pointed out by Kunkel, each member of the steering committee is a part of a smaller group of co-chairs that is responsible for one or more of the standards. Kunkel continued, “Each standard has a committee to address questions that arise during the self-study.”
The entire evaluation procedure will not conclude until the spring of 2006. Steiner pointed out that in May of that year, a team from Middle States will come to campus and spend a few days going over the supporting documentation. After everything has been evaluated, the Institute will hear back about its status.
