A PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR FIRST TIME
CHAIRS OF DECENNIAL REVIEWS
Charles Caramello
Associate Provost and Dean of the Graduate School
University of Maryland
December 9, 2010
OVERVIEW
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Accepting the Assignment
Planning the Review
Preliminary and Team Visits
Leading a Successful Team
The Team Review Report
A Final Note
1. ACCEPTING THE ASSIGNMENT
PRINCIPLES
The chair and team must take a comprehensive view, addressing all aspects of
institutional performance in both breadth and depth.
The chair and team must honor the mission of the reviewed institution, not substitute
the missions of their home institutions.
The chair and team must base their finding on evidence that, again, is interpreted in
the context of the institution’s mission.
Finally, and most important, the chair and team members are colleagues conducting
peer review, not bureaucrats policing regulations.
COMMITMENT
KEY ELEMENTS
• Respect for institutional effort and belief in value of peer review
• Engagement in complex, lengthy, and challenging process and product
• Substantial investment of time, personal attention, and resources
RESPONSIBILITIES
• Learning and understanding MSCHE standards and decennial review process
• Reviewing and critiquing institution’s self-study design
• Leading team: ensuring that members understand roles and fulfill responsibilities
• Working closely with institution on coordination of duties, visits, and event logistics
• Organizing, editing, and presenting team report and chair’s confidential brief
STAFF SUPPORT
• Dedicated staff support critical for success of project
• Staff coordinates with institution, review team, MSCHE
• Staff manages communications, responsibilities and tasks, scheduling and logistics
TIMELINE
LATE SUMMER
Chair (C) appointed.
Team (TM) assembled.
Institution (INST) creates selfstudy design, compiles
review documents.
FALL
C/TM attend training
workshops.
C reviews self-study design.
C/INST prepare for
preliminary visit.
WINTER
C/INST prepare for team visit.
INST sends Self-Study Report
and materials to C.
C/TM review all INST and
MSCHE materials.
Dates determined.
C makes preliminary visit
(C/INST).
EARLY SPRING
SPRING
SUMMER
C assigns review tasks to TM
and prepares TM for visit.
TM visits INST.
C submits evaluations of TM.
C/TM complete report.
C submits Confidential Brief.
C presents report to INST.
C makes presentation to
MSCHE in Philadelphia.
TM draft report sections,
formulate questions.
C/INST finalize visit logistics,
create detailed schedule.
C/TM finalize report for INST
and MSCHE.
INST responds to report .
MSCHE reports to INST.
RELATIONSHIPS
THE
INSTITUTION
GOAL:
Advancing
the
Institution
THE
TEAM
THE
COMMISSION
2. PLANNING THE REVIEW
ESTABLISHING RELATIONSHIPS
Establishing professional and collegial relationships is critical to success.
Chair
Institution
Team Members
• Ensures that self-study, review,
and report cover all MSCHE
standards.
• Leads collaborative team
review with consensus on
recommendations.
• Works with institution and
MSCHE on all aspects of
review process.
• Works with chair on initial
stages of self-study report
• Arranges and hosts
preliminary and team visits
• Accommodates requests for
interview and other meetings
• Engages with chair and MSCHE
on post-visit review matters.
• Read whole self-study report,
write parts of review report,
collaborate on final report.
• Develop questions to help
shape meetings, discussions,
and report.
• Shape team dynamic, working
together intensively during
team visit and often
improvising.
KEY PLAYERS IN PLANNING
CHAIR
INSTITUTION
COMMISSION
Chair
Point of Contact
MSCHE VP Liaison
• Coordinating with INST
and MSCHE.
• Coordinating with TM.
• Compiling, organizing,
and forwarding all
INST materials.
• Responding to
requests from C.
• Organizing visits
• Attendees
• Meeting spaces
• Communications
• Documents and
IT/AV.
• Travel, lodging,
meals, etc.
• Providing expert
counsel on all aspects of
review.
• Coordinating with INST
and C on team
selection, visits, etc.
• Helping to resolve any
complications or
conflicts.
Staff Support
• Scheduling with INST
and C/TM.
• Organizing and
forwarding materials
from INST to C to TM.
• Working with INST to
refine visit schedule.
• Assembling final dossiers
for TM visit.
Staff
• Handling all technical
logistics.
• Managing electronic
documents.
FLOW OF COMMUNICATION
Institution
Chair
Team
Members
Commission
3. PRELIMINARY AND TEAM VISITS
CHAIR’S PRELIMINARY VISIT
Before the Visit
• Chair reviews institution’s self-study design.
• Team Members are selected.
• Chairs/Team attend orientation.
• Chair receives and reviews draft self-study report.
• Chair and Institution prepare preliminary visit agenda and schedule.
During the Visit
• Chair meets with key administrators and self-study steering committee.
• Chair tours meeting facilities and hotel.
• Chair provides feedback on draft self-study report.
THE TEAM VISIT
DAY ONE
DAY TWO
Arrival of Team
Welcome from Steering Committee
(Team Meeting: Draft Section Reports)
Get Acquainted Program
Chair Meets with President
Full Day of Meetings
Team Dinner: Review of Day
Individual TM Meetings with Chair
Team Meeting: Preparation for Day Two
DAY THREE
THE TEAM VISIT
DAY FOUR
Chair meets with President
Final Section Reports Due to Chair
Half Day of Meetings
Chair Prepares Oral Summary of Report
Afternoon Writing Session
Team Lunch: Oral Summary
Team Dinner: Discussion and
Recommendations
Chair Presents Oral Summary
Revised Section Reports Due to Chair
Chair Begins Final Editing of Report
Team Departs Campus
4. LEADING A SUCCESSFUL TEAM
BEFORE TEAM VISIT
Team Members
Prepare
• Attend workshop and orientation
• Read all MSCHE booklets
• Read all institution documents
Chair Works
with Team
• Chair sends welcome memo with instructions and provisional
assignments for review and report
• Chair holds introductory conference call on overall review
• Chair contacts team members individually to discuss assignments
The Report
• Chair sends guidelines for draft sections of preliminary report
• Members send draft sections (3-5 pages per standard) and
interview questions to chair
• Chair sends full preliminary report and all questions to team
Logistics
• Institution sends team transportation information
• Chair sends team information regarding hotel, meals, attire, IT, final
schedule, etc.
DURING TEAM VISIT
•
Team members should conduct individual interviews and group meetings on
their assigned standards and attend open meetings on matters of interest to
the institutional community.
•
Team members should use questions developed before the visit to guide
interviews and meetings and should developadditional questions as the visit
progresses.
•
The chair and full team should should conduct two large group meetings,
dedicated to Standards 7 and 14, with key institutional leaders.
•
The chair and team should meet in closed session at least once daily.
•
The chair should be available to meet with individual team members to
discuss any challenges or concerns.
•
The daily schedule should incorporate 15-30 minute breaks so team members
can communicate with their home offices.
•
The oral presentation to the institution warrants full team attendance.
AFTER TEAM VISIT
CHAIR
• Completes editing of Team Report
• Shares final Report with Team
• Consults with institution to correct any
factual errors
• Submits final Team Report to institution
and MSCHE
• Submits team member evaluations
• Writes and submits Confidential Brief
• Presentation at MSCHE meeting in
Philadelphia
TEAM MEMBERS
• Submit evaluation of Team Chair
• Answer any questions from Chair
requiring clarification for Report
5. THE TEAM REVIEW REPORT
ASSIGNING SECTIONS OF THE REPORT
Make assignments by distributing MSCHE standards.
Review each team member’s administrative
expertise and experience and assign standards appropriately.
Take care to assign Standards 2 and 3 (resources and resource
allocation) to a member with significant budgetary experience.
Pay particular attention to Institutional Effectiveness
Assessment and Student Learning Assessment, and assign
Standards 7 and 14 to an experienced team member only.
DRAFTING THE REPORT
Team
Members
Chair
Chair’s
Staff
Support
• Review the entire Self-Study Report and supplementary materials, with
particular focus on assigned standards.
• Read Characteristics of Excellence, with focus on assigned standards, for
clear and specific evaluation criteria.
• Draft preliminary report sections on assigned standards (3-5 pages per
standard).
• Prepare two lists of questions: one set on Self-Study Report as a whole, and
one set on assigned standards.
•
•
•
•
Specify conceptual, stylistic, and technical guidelines for preliminary drafts.
Set pre-visit deadline for drafts and pre-visit turnaround date.
Urge TMs to review the full team draft report prior to visit.
Moderate discussion of full draft team report and submitted questions at
team meeting on first day of visit.
• Collate individual draft reports into one document and send to team several
days in advance of team visit.
• FedEx a package to each TM in advance of visit, including collated full team
draft report and questions (hard copies and thumb-drives), institutional and
team contact information, blank interview sign-in sheets, etc.
EDITING THE REPORT
•
Team should arrive at visit with a full and carefully drafted preliminary team report.
Team members also should be prepared to do extensive rewriting on site.
Chairs should be prepared to do substantial additional rewriting and editing on site.
•
Why should Chair and Team come prepared?
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•
•
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Why should team members rewrite extensively on site?
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•
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A fully prepared chair and team, with fully drafted preliminary report, make for a more
successful, productive, and pleasant visit.
Questions will be answered, ambiguities will be clarified, and new information will emerge.
Documentary materials and interviews are fresh in everyone’s mind.
All parties, including Institutional Steering Committee, are present for consultation.
A preliminary draft is rough; a penultimate draft is polished.
At the conclusion of the site visit, the team member’s responsibilities end.
Why should chair do more rewriting and editing?
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Extensively and individually written draft sections must become a concise document.
Team members have different “voices” and writing styles that must be made to cohere.
This draft of report will be the basis for the oral presentation.
The more work completed on site, the less work to be completed at home.
PRESENTING THE ORAL REPORT
•
Respect the institution’s seriousness of purpose, its achievements, and its
concerns.
•
Treat the occasion with appropriate circumstance: it is both substantive
and ceremonial.
•
Be clear and concise, but neither simple nor terse.
•
Speak from a prepared script, not off the cuff; resist embellishment or
improvisation.
•
Reveal all that MSCHE allows and nothing that it proscribes.
ATTENDING THE MSCHE MEETING
•
Consult with the vice-president assigned to your review before the
meeting, and heed his or her counsel during the meeting.
•
Prepare a thorough but concise oral presentation for the committee; do
not summarize the entire report or otherwise ramble.
•
Participate fully in discussions of other institutions being reviewed in the
same session.
•
Be rigorous in assessments and candid in comments.
6. A FINAL NOTE
OPPORTUNITIES
Individual Impact:
Opportunity for individual
professional development and
networking.
Campus Impact:
Opportunity for learning MSCHE
review processes and improving
home institution’s self study.
Regional Impact:
Opportunity for engaging in
serious peer review designed to
improve individual institutions and
regional higher education.