Bethel prepares for March HLC peer review
Bethel prepares for March HLC peer review
The Higher Learning Commission determines Bethel's accreditation status.
Bethel College is a member of and accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) and will undergo an HLC-initiated peer review on March 25 and 26. The HLC is an agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and an association of almost all of the colleges and universities in the central part of the country.
Bethel College is part of a program called Standard Pathways, which is a typical pattern for HLC. The HLC comes to reaffirm Bethel’s accreditation every 10 years.
“In the middle of the 10 years, peers will come for a midterm review, and that’s the one they’re coming for now. It’s really conducted almost exactly the same with the Assurance Argument revised in the visit of the peers,” said Vice President for Academic Affairs Bob Milliman. “It's just that it's not quite as tense because the reaffirmation of our accreditation is not up for consideration this time.”
Accreditation is needed to receive federal financial aid for students, validate the college’s degrees in the eyes of employers and graduate schools, affirm what the college is doing well and challenge to be better and assure the public of Bethel’s quality and continuous improvement. Being a part of the HLC recognizes that Bethel conforms to standards of quality and that students are receiving an excellent education.
“If we didn’t belong to it, we would not be able to be recognized [for funding] by the United States Department of Education, which means that none of our students would get federal financial aid. So there’s a pretty strong incentive to be part of that association,” said Milliman.
HLC is also a voluntary association. “It includes schools that want to assure their constituents of quality and improvement. It’s not like it's a big office someplace, we dictate to one another. All 3,000 of us dictate to one another,” said Milliman. “Members from other schools come and see us and we have that option of going to other schools and seeing them, so it’s everybody in the association checking on one another.”
The five criteria focused in the Assurance Argument are mission, integrity, teaching, and learning; quality, resources, and support; teaching and learning; evaluation and improvement, institutional effectiveness, resources, and planning.
Each of these is broken down into core components and subcomponents. Each subcomponent should be met and continuously improved upon by member institutions. To demonstrate this, two things must be completed: a narration of how the subcomponent has been met and how continuous improvement is being achieved, along with documented evidence.
“In March, a few of our peers will be asking for proof that we have met all of the subcomponents. They will want us to provide them with a report of this proof,” said Milliman. This report will be the Assurance Argument, which includes a narrative with evidence that assures the peer reviewers that Bethel should remain accredited. In this report is included the strengths and weaknesses of the college along with solutions for progress. The deadline for the Assurance Argument is Feb. 26.
Milliman is the Academic Dean and the HLC Accreditation Liaison Officer who appointed personnel to take leadership to fulfill each criterion mentioned above. These leaders gathered teams to revise the sections of the current Assurance Argument. This group consists of Barb Thiesen, Kip Wedel, Rachel Epp Buller, Jayna Berholf, and Pam Tieszen.
“The main thing we’ve done is work on this Assurance Argument,” said Milliman. “The Assurance Argument is the narrative or story with evidence that we present to them. We are required to present to them a picture of our college. We’ve been working on [the Assurance Agreement] and [we’ll] continue to work on that.” The cabinet members and President Jon Gering will review the document and integrate comments.
Next, the peer reviewers will be on campus in March to verify the report. The last visit was in the spring of 2019. These reviewers will conduct several interviews with students along with other faculty and board members. “They will read that and then they come here basically to inspect. Are we accurately presenting ourselves? I have been telling the faculty and staff they’re coming … and to be prepared to be able to answer questions,” said Milliman.
The recent survey given to students to fill out was to help the peer reviewers focus some of their questions based on student feedback. “We want students to participate. When they come they will have a session for students. They’ll have sessions for faculty and staff, for board members, and for other interested constituents as well. Right now, they’ve pulled the students and they continue to pull third-party comments — anybody who wants to comment on our fitness to be accredited,” said Milliman.
The best-desired outcome is that the peer reviewers are pleased with the operations at Bethel. “I think we’ve got a really good Assurance Argument,” said Milliman. “We’re in good shape.”
“I would also encourage students as they have opportunities when they’re here to participate. We are interested in what students think and what they have to say and the comments that they provide to the Higher Learning Commission. I would ask them to be honest, to say what can be improved,” said Milliman.
“We want to be able to confirm to the public that we have a good education,” he added. “We want to be able to say to new students, we're accredited. You can check us on the website, you can see our Assurance Argument, and you can see all the documentation that's been provided by the Higher Learning Commission about us. We meet the standards of all the other schools that have come together for that purpose.
“We also want to make sure that your credits will transfer to wherever you want, and that you’ll be able to be admitted to a grad school, wherever you want to go. These are all very important things that come with accreditation.”