Overview of the Self Study Process

Throughout these notes, which are distilled from the directions and guidance provided by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MS), are references to two reports.

Descriptive caption of photo goes here for assistive technologies
Haining Zhu '15
Photo Courtesy of Candice Hersh

First is the "design for the self-study" report (DSS report) which tells the Middles States Commission how we intend to conduct our self-study. The second report referred to here is the actual self-study report (SSR), which we will submit in January 2013. The year (2011-2012) will be spent doing the self-study.

Steps in the Self-Study Process

The point of the self-study is for Juniata to:

  • Examine our educational programs and services
  • Determine how well our programs and services achieve our institutional goals
  • Evaluate how well we fulfill our mission
  • Demonstrate how we meet the Middles States Commission's standards

Here is a quick overview of the steps we must follow and their order:

  1. JC prepares and submits a report detailing how it will undertake to do the self-study. This report is the "design for the self study," hereafter called the DSS.
  2. We are visited by our Middle States liaison on April 7, 2012, where our DSS is discussed. Soon after the visit we submit our plan, it is evaluated by our liaison, and, we hope, approved.
  3. We spend the year studying ourselves. During this time, we investigate how we examine our programs and services in order to verify that we, in fact, do what we say we do.
  4. We write and ask for feedback on the draft of the self study report.
  5. We submit the final self-study report to the Middles States evaluation team.
  6. The Middle States team visits campus as part of their peer review of the College. The visit is scheduled for March 3, 2013.
  7. The Middle States team reports back to us with follow-up for items that we must correct.
  8. The Middle States visiting team reports back to us with follow-up for items that we must correct.
  9. The Middle States Commission will decide accreditation.