The WASC Nest

Peer Review

The most recent WASC Commission Action Letters have dealt with Peer Review at CalArts. Over the past academic year, many dedicated faculty members have been tackling how to best integrate a form of peer review at CalArts. Several emails have been sent via the Faculty list, but we're going to continue the conversation here. Julie Feves recently wrote the following letter. To respond, please leave a comment on this post.

Dear Colleagues,

I want to thank all of those who are participating in the discussions about peer review. The conversations, the meetings, and the letters have given us all much to consider. I am grateful to those who have taken the time to express their concerns, articulate their values and express their appreciation for all that we share at CalArts.

I am in agreement with Tom Lawson, Vinny Golia and Larry Koonse. Traditional peer review is based on old systems of hierarchy and judgment - systems that are not useful or appropriate at CalArts for the reasons clearly articulated by my colleagues. I participated on the Peer Review Committee (until I became too busy with enrollment and financial aid to attend) with the intention to contribute to an alternative peer review plan.  A minority of the committee membership is working on a plan not based in judgment; but in connection and communication.  Their hope, which I share, is to find ways to articulate and honor what the CalArts faculty already does well; to improve the support network for CalArts faculty; to enhance communication among CalArts faculty; and to offer increased opportunities for CalArts faculty members to present their work and to connect with and learn from one another.  I believe it is important to stand for our values by creating a peer review or rather a peer support system in line with our values.

My beginning work with the Non-Violent Communication model, as articulated by Marshall Rosenberg, has deepened my understanding of how moralistic judgment (blame, demand, force, etc.) blocks connection, compassion and understanding.  I have come to realize how difficult it can be to move beyond these modes of thinking. Art making; the ways we teach and foster art making, the ways we collaborate with one another at CalArts and in our larger community gives us opportunities to create and connect with compassion. Like my colleagues, I am deeply grateful for this gift and want to protect and foster it at CalArts.

Some members of the Peer Review Committee are strongly advocating a more traditional peer review system as a way to repair or fix CalArts. The concept of fixing something contains the assumption that it is broken.  It is my observation that we are an Institute in a state of dynamic growth and intense activity supported by a solid organizational foundation.  The dialogue we are enjoying is important - let;s listen deeply to one another; come to an awareness of one another's needs - and see where that takes us.


With gratitude,
Julie Feves
Associate Dean for Enrollment Management
The Herb Alpert School of Music at CalArts

Climbing aboard the WASC ARC

On April 16, I'm heading down to San Diego for the ARC -- the WASC Academic Resource Conference. Much edification awaits me, Jacqui Bobak, Jackie Elam and Nancy Uscher. Experts from WASC and administrators who've already been through a recent reaffirmation of accreditation process will be there to answer all of our burning questions. As CalArts embarks on the Capacity and Preparatory Review phase, it's essential that we know what we're in for. Since I'm new to this whole realm, I'm looking forward to attending a conference session specifically on the CPR. Jackie Elam, the Accreditation Liaison Officer (ALO), goes down to San Diego a day earlier than I to learn more about her role. You can read more about the WASC ARC here.

Learning from the Learning Goals

It's only March, and CalArts already is making great progress on its WASC plan for 2008. Jackie Elam (Assistant Provost) and I (Coordinator for Academic Affairs), along with Yvonne Guy (Dean of Students) and Jacqui Bobak (Associate Dean, School of Music), have been meeting with CalArts' program faculties to refine their learning goals in anticipation of including them in the 2008/2009 Course Catalog and Institute Policies.

This has been a stimulating process for me because, not only am I learning more about the different discipline at CalArts, I've had the opportunity to view our faculty as expert educators--I often interact with faculty in an administrative capacity, and much rarely do I have the chance to hear about our faculty's teaching methods and philosophies. Of course, as an alumna, I knew that the faculty was quite good,  but I certainly feel that my understanding of CalArts as a whole deepens with each discussion I have about learning goals.

We passed!

Our WASC Proposal Review Committee accepted our Institutional Proposal and timeline for review. That's really good news. It's especially positive because we can move forward with our plan without revisions -- a rather rare occurrence in the wide, wide world of WASC. The WASC Steering Committee will reconvene on Feb. 11 to hash out next steps.

As planned, our Capacity and Preparatory Review will be in spring 2010 and the Educational Effectiveness Review in fall 2001.

The Big Day Approaches

The Provost's Office received confirmation of our proposal review appointment: December 12, 2007. We will let you know the result as soon as we know.

The Steering Committee had their final meeting of the semester on November 26, 2007. We've subdivided into work groups related to the main themes of the proposal: faculty workload and peer review (which dovetails with the Academic Council subcommittees related to these areas); staff professional development; Critical Studies; Alumni Relations (specifically looking at outcomes after graduation); and data analysis.

I'm part of the data analysis crew, co-helmed by Mike Bryant. We're taking a serious look at the kind of data CalArts collects on itself and specifically, how we can use currently available data to help students at risk. I'm enjoying using the hardcore analytical side o' my brain again, and I think we're actually going to come up with some useful results.

Update (and some politics)

The WASC Steering Committee reconvened on November 5, when Jackie Elam introduced the Assessment Liaisons -- a special subset of the Steering Committee. These mighty few will be working with the faculty of the programs that they represent to refine the programs' student learning goals and outcomes. It will be a springtime activity of note.

The Steering Committee further sub-divided into groups focused on key issues from the Institutional Proposal: critical studies, alumni, faculty workload and peer review, and staff professional development. We'll keep you updated on our progress.

The federal government are becoming increasingly interested in student assessment in higher ed, as well as tuition coasts. The Higher Education Act, depending on which ammendments make it through, could have serious repercussions for accreditors and schools alike. You can read about the latest movements of the Higher Education Act here: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/11/15/hea

Au revoir, Institutional Proposal!

Jackie Elam and I, with the gracious assistance of Diane Hunt, sent the Institutional Proposal off to WASC last week! It arrived in time to meet the October 15, 2007 deadline. Now we wait? I wish. We'll get WASC's verdict back on December 12, 2007, but in the mean time, the WASC Steering Committee will reconvene to start working on action items for the Capacity and Preparatory Review -- the next phase of the WASC process. I'm actually really looking forward to this part because we'll take the ideas generated from the proposal process and start working with the CalArts community on them.

Welcome to The WASC Nest

Hi all!

My name is Justine Schroeder, and I'm the Coordinator for Academic Affairs and Strategic Initiatives at CalArts. I returned to CalArts in September after a year-long hiatus working at UCLA. Now I'm back in the Office of the Provost, supporting the WASC reaccreditation process.

This blog is designed to give members of the CalArts community a forum in which they can openly discuss the WASC process. I will not censor your comments for content, but I do have to moderate them in order to avoid accidentally posting spam. You should see your comments online within a day or two of submitting them. If you ask a question, I'll do my best to reply shortly after that. You can always email me too.

While I was gone, the WASC Steering Committee -- comprised of CalArts faculty, staff and students -- created an Institutional Proposal which describes how we're going to go about the WASC process at CalArts and gives a context for that process. It's due to WASC on October 15, 2007, and right now, we're working on the final tweaks and data tables. I'll be posting the final version of the Institutional Proposal here.

Please send me an email or comment on this blog if you have any questions or comments about WASC reaccreditation at CalArts. I'll be posting periodically to update you of our progress.