Program Review

Program review and assessment is a requirement of the Idaho State Board of Education and the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities accreditation standards.

Colleges/divisions will use the timeline/schedule in ISU Program Review Instructions (4-30-2018). For undergraduate and graduate programs in the same discipline, the program reviews should be conducted simultaneously.

All academic and professional-technical certificate and degree programs must have meaningful, assessable outcome measures. All courses must have measurable learning outcomes.

All academic and professional-technical certificate and degree programs, without specialized accreditation, must be evaluated at least once every seven years and brief annual reports are required in years between reviews.

All academic and professional-technical certificate and degree programs, with specialized accreditation, must be reviewed on a timeline required by the accrediting body. If the specialized accreditation is not outcomes based, outcome measures must be developed for the program, and provided to the Office of Academic Affairs as part of the institutional program review requirements.

Longitudinal program data are available in the Program Viability web application managed by the Office of Institutional Research, as one component of program review.

Process

Academic Program Review (APR) is an integral part of Idaho State University’s ongoing efforts to ensure that our educational mission is being met through the delivery of programs that are effective in meeting their goals through curricula that are current and relevant.  

APR provides faculty and academic units the opportunity to reflect upon the content of their programs and delivery of curriculum, assessing its effectiveness and planning for actions to maintain or improve the quality of teaching and scholarship at the institution, and alignment with core themes.

Please see ISU's ISU Program Review Instructions (4-30-2018) for more information about the review process including purpose & rationale, criteria for program selection & schedule, review teams, full vs. modified reviews, process & procedures, unit self-study, external reviewers, and reporting: conclusions and recommendations.

Program Review Schedule

Academic Program Review Plan Excel spreadsheet that includes a seven-year External Review Cycle.

Special Accreditation Listing Excel spreadsheet of the programs with specialized accreditation.

Resources

Learn how NWCCU relates Standards Two, Standard Three, and Standard Four to program review and assessment: NWCCU 2010 Standards.

Program-based and course-based assessment handbooks are available:

(PDF) Program-Based Review and Assessment

(PDF) Course-Based Review and Assessment

For more information about the university's accreditation process, contact Dr. Joanne Tokle  tokljoan@isu.edu