WASC Reaccreditation Review

May 2, 2012

We are writing to share with the campus community the results of the second stage of our reaccreditation review by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC).  For this review, called the Capacity and Preparatory Review (CPR), UCSB prepared a detailed report and hosted a peer review team led by David Skorton, the president of Cornell University.  The team’s findings were subsequently reviewed by the WASC Senior Commission, which issued an action letter in March. We urge you to read the visiting team’s report, UCSB’s response to it, and the WASC Commission’s action letter.  They are located on the campus’s accreditation website at:

 https://evc.ucsb.edu/wasc/steps/capacity.and.preparatory.review/wasc.visiting.team.final.pdf

 https://evc.ucsb.edu/wasc/steps/capacity.and.preparatory.review/ucsb.response.to.team.pdf

 https://evc.ucsb.edu/wasc/steps/capacity.and.preparatory.review/wasc.commission.letter.to.ucsb.pdf

The visiting team’s report praises UCSB and commends the campus’s responsiveness to WASC’s requirements for this stage of accreditation.  At the same time, the report notes that our progress in some important areas has been relatively recent and that further progress may be complicated by the significant budgetary challenges we face over the next few years.  The report offers advice and makes recommendations for our work toward the third and final stage of reaccreditation, the Educational Effectiveness Review (EER).  

In February, the WASC Commission considered the visiting team report, spoke with Chancellor Yang, and acted to extend the date for the Educational Effectiveness Review to fall 2013.  The Commission expressed significant concern that UCSB’s work on learning outcomes and assessment had not begun earlier, and it added six months to the EER date to allow the campus sufficient time to meet WASC’s expectations at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Although WASC has high expectations for what UCSB will have accomplished by the time of the EER, we believe we are well positioned to meet these goals.

 As we prepare for the last stage of the WASC process, we want to thank faculty and staff for their hard work in support of UCSB’s reaccreditation.  We are gratified by the spirit of cooperation and dedication that you bring to ensuring the best possible education for our students.