Conducting a Readiness Assessment
Conducting a Readiness Assessment
Conducting a Readiness Assessment
Sometimes, Interpreter Education Programs think they are ready for accreditation, but they overlook key criteria for complying with national standards. IEC conducts a Program Readiness Assessment (PRA) to advise programs on areas that might need development prior to application. A PRA involves a review of the following program components:
- Mission, philosophy, core values
- Entrance and exit competencies
- Curriculum
- Program assessment
- Stakeholder involvement
- Alumni follow up
- Deaf and DeafBlind community relationships
- Faculty qualifications
- Compliance with 43 CCIE standards (2019),
- Availability of evidence to document compliance
Developing Self Study Evidence
Conducting a Readiness Assessment
Conducting a Readiness Assessment
Each CCIE standard requires evidence to support the program's compliance, and this evidence includes spreadsheets, charts, website or promotional content, faculty search announcements, letters, meeting minutes, and other artifacts. Evidence is as critical as the SSR narrative that supports it, and without adequate evidence, compliance with CCIE standards is difficult (or impossible) for raters to confirm.
Programs need to start early in the SSR process creating evidence files that are factual, clear, and organized. CCIE raters will consult the evidence files and evaluate their validity for representing compliance with the standards. Meager, inadequate, or sloppy evidence files put favorable outcomes for accreditation at risk. IEC facilitates evidence compilation, creating visual representations of data. Programs have approximately one year to complete the SSR and submit it to CCIE for rating.
Developing the Self Study Review
Developing the Self Study Review
Developing the Self Study Review
The Self Study Review (SSR) showcases your program with a detailed account of a curriculum that is delivered in compliance with CCIE standards (2019). The SSR addresses these ten major areas by which a program is evaluated for accreditation:
- Program Quality: Governance
- Institutional Resources
- Students
- Faculty
- Program Quality: Curriculum & Teaching-Learning Practices
- Curriculum: Knowledge
- Curriculum: Skills Competencies
- Curriculum: Field Experience
- Outcomes & Assessment
- Improvement & Sustainability
Within these ten categories, there are a total of 43 requirements the program must satisfy. The key to a successful SSR is a narrative that is written clearly in Academic English and is easy for the reviewers to navigate.
Planning the Site Visit
Developing the Self Study Review
Developing the Self Study Review
After CCIE rates the SSR, the Commission decides if a site visit is warranted. Usually, the same team of raters that evaluated the SSR will also attend the site visit. A team leader is assigned to the program, and planning the two-to-three day site visit begins. The Site Visit Team specifies what will be included in the visit based on any gaps that might have been noticed in the SSR and the evidence files. For example, a Site Visit Team may ask for additional evidence or ask the faculty to clarify parts of the SSR in order to absolutely determine compliance. The Site Visit Team submits a final report to the full Commission, which determines the outcome of the Self Study Review and Site Visit process.
Site visits typically include meetings with students, alumni, stakeholders, advisory boards, faculty, library personnel, various offices affiliated with the interpreting program, and institutional administrators. The Site Visit Team may also attend classes and tour facilities. Planning a site visit includes arranging for interpreters, scheduling meetings, and compiling additional evidence required by the Site Visit Team.