WIDS Software - A Solution to Help Your SACSCOC Accreditation

WIDS software features, functions, and documentation help colleges with SACSCOC Accreditation

The process of achieving accreditation is a lengthy undertaking for any institution of higher education. Institutions will expend a great deal of time and effort securing an initial accreditation approval and will celebrate this achievement as an institution-wide success. This well-deserved celebration, however, is sometimes viewed as an end-point for the accreditation process. Once the initial accreditation has been secured, the institution has just begun its ongoing accreditation journey. As an example, the SACSCOC accreditation process requires Reaffirmation of Accreditation at the five-year initial accreditation anniversary.  What does this mean for the institution? It means that there is no down time in the ongoing accreditation cycle! 

Because SACSCOC accreditation is based on continuous quality improvement principles, its  effective for an institution to approach accreditation as an ongoing process. In addition, the best approach to ensuring accurate and up-to-date evidence of ongoing compliance with the requirements is to view the documentation and data sets as “live” pieces of the requirement puzzle. By handling the evidence sets as living pieces of information, the institution can adopt a habit of living in the accreditation cycle as opposed to reacting to and collecting data for specific points in time (on-site visits, reaffirmation, submitting QEP reports, etc.) on the accreditation continuum. 

How Can WIDS help an institution maintain these live evidence sets?

The WIDS model and software has been developed to ensure consistent curriculum design, alignment, management, and dissemination across the entire organization.  WIDS provides institutions with an efficient method for meeting the requirements and documentation.

With WIDS, institutions can:

• establish clear performance expectations for outcomes
• design and align curriculum
• plan for, execute and document curriculum review
• design and execute outcomes assessment plans

In addition, the Outcome Assessment Plan (OAP) feature allows institutions to record and store assessment plans, store student outcome evaluation results data and record plans and strategies for using the resulting data to improve student learning achievement and experience (close the loop). WIDS provides an efficient means for an institution to maintain ongoing curriculum review records, maintain an alignment between current curriculum and current assessment strategies and document assessment plans and results in one location.

What about providing the SACSCOC required evidence at a specific point in time?

WIDS reporting tools provide customized documentation for easy access to evidence that specific SACSCOC requirements are met. To see how WIDS software features address SACSCOC Standards and Criteria download our free WIDS & Accreditation: A SACSCOC Example. Contact WIDS at any time to learn more about our product and process for designing, aligning, and managing curriculum!