Dartmouth officials are currently working to draft an internal review of the College's operations to prepare for its upcoming reaccreditation, according to Provost emeritus Barry Scherr, who is tasked with overseeing the review through December. Reaccreditation a largely perfunctory exercise that occurs every 10 years verifies that the College meets certain standards as an institution of higher education.
The reaccreditation administered by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges' Commission on Institutions of Higher Education will officially take place in November 2010 when a committee of representatives from peer institutions visit the College for the analysis, according to Pat O'Brien, deputy director of the NESCAC commission.
It is "very unlikely" that a "top school" like Dartmouth would fail to be reaccredited, Scherr said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
Dartmouth will evaluate itself on 11 standards, including mission, organization, planning and evaluation, academic programs, faculty, student achievement, information resources, physical resources, financial resources, and public disclosure and integrity, according to Wallace Nutting, a public member on the commission.
The College has formed several committees to write the report on Dartmouth's current status, addressing each of the 11 areas.
Scherr said he has reviewed "five or six" of the committee reports.
When completed, the report will be approximately 100 pages long, Scherr said.
"The school is always looking to improve itself," Scherr said. "Is the institution doing the kind of work that the public can be assured that it's a strong school?"
After an institution has been reaccredited, NEASC provides a list of suggested improvements, Scherr said. Based on the association's recommendations during the 2000 reaccreditation process, the College created the Office of Institutional Research and the Center for the Advancement of Learning.
Feedback following the 2000 reaccreditation also encouraged the faculty to "look more closely at how we assess our own work," Scherr said.
"We are judging ourselves more carefully," he said.
Scherr returned on Wednesday from Yale University, where he served as a member of the institution's reaccreditation team.
"[It was] quite fascinating to see what another school really looks like and how they really operate," he said. "It teaches you a little more about American higher education."
