The Process of Accreditation.
In the first stage of accreditation, the institution prepares a self-study report describing its mission and its progress toward that mis- sion, as well as how the institution meets the standards of the accrediting body. The second major stage is the core of the expertise-oriented approach: a team of peers, faculty, and administrators from other institutions in the region receives the report and conducts a site visit during which they interview faculty, administra- tors, staff, and students; review institutional records on admissions, course curric- ula, student satisfaction and outcomes; observe facilities and classrooms, and so forth. Based on their review of the report and their experiences during the site visit, the team, usually three or four experts, writes a report expressing their views regarding the institution, their recommendations concerning its accreditation sta- tus, and their suggestions for improvement. The site visit report is then reviewed by a standing commission at the accrediting association, which may amend the conclusions. The commission then presents the final conclusions to the institution.
The process is expertise-oriented in several ways: (a) the association has exper- tise concerning standards for higher education, the state and status of other institu- tions, and the practice of accreditation and review; (b) the faculty and administrators who form the site team have expertise in participating in the governance of their own universities and others where they have been employed and receive some training from the association to serve as site reviewers. Therefore, the expertise of the site visit team and the association allows those involved to make use of the standards of the association, their review of the report, and their site visit to form a final judgment of the quality of the institution. This process is a common one followed not only by the regional accrediting organizations but also by the organizations that accredit programs in individual disciplines in higher education and by organizations that accredit other educational institutions, including school districts, private schools, charter schools, secondary schools, vocational schools, and religious schools.