Introduction to Standard A Citations

Last week, we concluded our discussion of Standard B citations by discussing gap analysis. Now we’re ready to move into the most common Standard A citations. Compliance with Standard A is a mixed bag. It’s easier in some ways because less data collection and analysis are needed than in the requirements of Standards C and B. Yet there is an unusual difficulty, too, in that Standard A requires proof of the support of your program’s sponsoring institution, which forces you to collaborate and prepare with people outside your program.

Now, if your sponsoring institution is fully on board, interested and active in the dynamics of your program’s curriculum and assessment, and generous about ensuring that you have the staff and resources you need, your only challenge is to prove this truth effectively to ARC-PA. 

However, the alternative puts your program in an unfortunate situation. Your sponsoring institution practices a sort of absentee parenting. It shows little interest in or time for your program’s educational operations and has a tight grip on the institution’s purse strings as your program struggles with limited staff. This can put you in a difficult position. ARC-PA can issue citations for this situation despite this scenario being largely out of your control.

The good news is that you can leverage ARC-PA’s Standards to convince your institutional administration that it needs to take an active role in the PA program’s oversight and support. There is a right way and a wrong way to do so, and I’ll share my thoughts on the matter and give some pointers on making things happen diplomatically.

Overview of Standards A1.02a and A1.07

Between March 2022 and June 2023:

• 14 out of 98 programs received a citation for A1.02a, which states: A1.02 The sponsoring institution is responsible for: a) supporting the planning by program faculty of curriculum design, course selection, and program assessment. I have found that citations mostly have to do with program assessment. I’ve seen that more times than not. In this series, we’ll explore why that might be. You should also note that if the program’s assessment process is not fully compliant with the ARC-PA Standards, the Commission will automatically cite the institution for standard A1.02a.

• 14 out of 98 programs received a citation for A1.07, which states: A1.07 The sponsoring institution must provide the program with the human resources, including sufficient faculty, administrative and technical staff, necessary to operate the educational program, comply with the Standards, and fulfill obligations to matriculating and enrolled students. The biggest complication here is that there are many “moving parts” to this aspect. 

As you can see, the two standards are quite related. 

Instructional Objectives

Our review of Standard A citations aims to accomplish the following:

1. Strategize how to educate senior administration about how to meet the requirements for standard A1.02a through documentation and tangible evidence. Senior administration often lacks understanding of the requirements your program must meet with their help. This is certainly one of the issues that oftentimes gets programs into trouble. Teaching them their responsibility for the program’s operations falls to you. I will elaborate on how to educate senior administration.

2. Articulate how the program's assessment process can provide actionable evidence to present to senior administration to mitigate a possible citation and standard  A1.02a. Presenting this fact to senior administration could ensure their cooperation and mitigate a possible citation, but you should attend that meeting prepared. In fact, there is a certain amount of etiquette to all aspects of your program and the sponsoring institution’s administration working together. I have some insights on how to make this go smoothly.

3. Ensure that your program is adequately measuring the sufficiency of institutional resources in the area of human resources to the program self-assessment process. Within the SSR, appendix 14G’s “sufficiency of institutional resources” is one of the key components that must be analyzed.

Next time…

We’ll pick up the next blog with some examples of ARC-PA citations in both Standards A1.02a and A1.07, then discuss why these citations are issued to so many programs. See you then!