The Assessment and Program Review Committee (APRC) was divided into two committees at the 4/15/2015 faculty meeting: Academic Program Improvement (APIC) and Student Learning Improvement (SLIC).
Membership
Three tenured faculty members from separate divisions with staggered terms.
Overview of APIC Mandate:
The Academic Program Improvement Committee is charged with regularly evaluating departments, programs, cornerstones and competencies. APIC adopted process and criteria for all major reviews and annual updates can be found in links at the bottom of this page. APIC intends that these guidelines lead departments and programs to an analytical assessment of, and not simply to a description of, departments and programs. Emphasis is placed on strengths, concerns and issues for the future for each department and program. These guidelines will allow individual program reviews to flow directly into the assessment of the College for future North Central accreditations. More importantly, this self-assessment will help departments and programs to build upon their strengths and make plans to remedy areas of weakness.
The Review Process (in brief):
The program review process consists of the completion and submission of a regularly scheduled self-study to be completed by most* departments and academic programs on an eight year cycle (see the APIC Department and Program Assessment Schedule below). As part of the review process, departments and programs will schedule visits from outside evaluators, meet with APIC, and, in conjunction with the Academic Dean, develop an action plan based on the self-study, the outside reviewers’ recommendations and suggestions from APIC (see Diagram of Program Review Process).
* Departments that maintain accreditation from an outside agency may be reviewed on a cycle that reflects the cycle of that accrediting agency and may discuss with APIC the possibility of substituting their accreditation report for the APIC report.
The Role of APIC in the Review Process:
The Academic Program Improvement Committee will review the regularly scheduled assessment reports of all departments and programs. The committee meets with external evaluators, reads all assessment reports, asks questions for clarification, and makes suggestions in the interest of improving the value of the assessment and the quality of the report. It should be clear that the committee’s role is to validate the assessment process and final evaluation report. APIC is not tasked with evaluating the department or program. The required External Evaluation Team (see External Visit Guidelines) will be instrumental in providing an evaluation of program and department structure. Although it does not substitute its judgment for the judgment of the department, APIC may make recommendations to the department and to the Dean concerning departmental programs.
LINKS & DOWNLOADS
Program Review:
Diagram of Program Review Process
APIC Department and Program Assessment Schedule
Academic Department Review Template