Re: accreditation/assessment (fwd)

[Beth Boquet <eboquet@FAIR1.FAIRFIELD.EDU>]

Joan,

I like your point 2 here:
 
> 2) Gee, the idea of accreditation sounds appealing to me, but your three
> proposed criteria (see below) don't.  Somehow, I've always imagined a
> process that would be more flexible and adaptable to local circumstances.
> Is that at odds with the very notion of accreditation?  I'm thinking about a
> recent WCN article (which was actually about ethics in the WC rather than
> accreditation) that pointed out how much our work is improvisational.  I
> prefer "standards" that encourage reflection and choices, rather than those
> that favor arbitrary and numerical quantification of what's "good enough."
> Is the idea of flexible accreditation standards a contradiction in terms?
> 

My question about accreditation, along these same lines, is whether 
we can imagine an NWCA team evaluating a site and _not_ accrediting 
it.  

It seems that most of us agree that some sort of system of evaluation 
or assessment is generally a good idea, whether it be local or more 
national or some combination of the two.  On the other hand, it seems 
improbable to me, given the nature of writing centers, that NWCA will 
be able to generate a list of generally-agreed upon criteria, as you 
have already pointed out.  We would never be able to agree, for 
example, on the tenure-track/non-tenure-track issue, or on the 
English Department/non-English Dept. issue or pick-your-topic.  
Without some sort of agreed upon criteria, however, I really am at a 
loss as to how one *accredits* something.  Assesses, yes.  Accredits, 
no.

Back to my original question, if we can't imagine a writing center 
failing (essentially) NWCA accreditation, then the process of 
accrediting seems meaningless.  (Again, the assessment might not be, 
but that is a separate issue.)  And if we can imagine a writing 
center failing, then I am concerned about the possible consequences 
for that writing center and I wonder if they wouldn't have been 
better served by some other system.  Certainly, failure to receive 
accreditation might spur an administration into investing more 
resources, but it might also just convince the administration to fold 
the writing center into the learning center, which might entail 
moving it out of academics and into student support services or 
getting rid of it all together or . . .well, you get the idea.

There are just too many variables and I don't know that we'll be able 
to account for enough of them.  That concerns me.

As for the argument that administrators like accreditation, I don't 
find that compelling enough to warrant the kind of time and energy 
that will have to go into this effort to do it right.  We already 
have accrediting agencies that accredit our institutions.  Presumably 
that includes our writing centers especially insofar as we want our 
writing centers to reflect the local circumstances of our own 
institutions. 

--Beth


> 
Elizabeth Boquet
Director, The Writing Center
DM 130
Fairfield University
Fairfield, CT  06430
Tel: 203/254-4000, ext. 2529
E-Mail:  eboquet@fair1.fairfield.edu