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Visit Follow-Up
7.1 Writing the VTR
7.1.1 The VTR conveys the visiting team’s assessment of the program’s educational quality, as measured by student performance and the overall learning environment. It establishes the degree to which the program is as described in the APR and includes documentation of the following:
a) The program’s noteworthy qualities with respect to the Conditions.
b) The program’s deficiencies with respect to the Conditions.
c) Concerns about the program’s future performance.
d) Comments that may be helpful in preparing for future accreditation visits, (if any).
7.1.2 The VTR serves multiple purposes. It is essential to the NAAB in making its accreditation decision; it may serve to strengthen the program and its position within the institution; and it may inform current and prospective students about the nature and quality of the program. Therefore, the VTR must be concise and consistent.
7.1.3 The visiting team chair is required to deliver a team-approved draft of the VTR to the NAAB office within 30 calendar days of the end of the visit.
a) No later than 10 calendar days after the visit, the chair circulates a second draft to the team and allows each member to suggest revisions within the next 10 calendar days.
b) After receiving the team comments, the visiting team chair completes the final draft, incorporating the accepted revisions from the team, and sends it to the NAAB office within the next 10 calendar days.
c) If this draft contains substantial changes, team members must review it again before it goes to the NAAB office. If team members fail to respond within the allotted time, the visiting team chair may complete the final draft (See Appendix E for the VTR production sequence.).
d) The entire team must sign the draft VTR and the confidential recommendation. Team members may provide the visiting team chair with their signatures while on the site visit, to be held until they have approved the content and language of the VTR.
7.1.4 Should the visiting team chair fail to deliver a draft VTR within a reasonable time after the site visit, the Executive Director and NAAB staff are responsible for its completion.
7.2 Review and Revision to the VTR
7.2.1 Upon receipt of the first draft of the VTR from the visiting team chair, the NAAB office sends it, excluding the confidential recommendation on a term of accreditation, to the program for correction of fact.
a) The program is given 10 calendar days in which to respond to the NAAB office with a copy to the visiting team chair.
b) The NAAB office revises the report, in consultation with the visiting team chair, and edits it for format and style. A final VTR is sent to the program.
c) If differences remain, the program may provide a response for the NAAB Directors to review in making their accreditation decision. Any such response forms an appendix to the VTR.
d) After the accreditation decision, the program, the visiting team chair, and the team members and observers are sent a copy of the letter announcing the NAAB’s decision along with a copy of the final VTR and any response from the program.
7.2.2 Any other correspondence about the VTR between the program and the team or the NAAB office will not affect the report as written.
7.3 Evaluating the Accreditation Process and Team
The program is asked to provide a formal evaluation of the accreditation process and team as soon as possible after the visit to assist the NAAB in improving the performance of visiting teams and as a benefit to other programs (See Appendix F for the evaluation form.)
7.4 Expense Reimbursement
Immediately following the visit, team members should complete a reimbursement form and submit original receipts for transportation, meal, and hotel expenses. (For an explanation of NAAB reimbursement policies, see Appendix G.)
Each school is responsible for the visiting team’s travel expenses related to its candidacy visit, accreditation visit, or focused evaluation visit. Immediately following the visit, team members should complete a reimbursement form (See Appendix G for the form and specific procedures for filling it out.) and submit original receipts for transportation, meal, and hotel expenses to the NAAB office. The NAAB office will invoice the school for these expenses.
7.5 Accreditation Decisions
In formulating its accreditation decisions, the NAAB considers the VTR, including the confidential recommendation from the visiting team, clarification from the visiting team chair, and relevant information from other sources if previously made available to the program.
7.6 Maintenance of Candidate or Accredited Status
7.6.1 To cover the cost of maintaining records at the NAAB office and in offsite storage, all candidate and accredited programs pay an accreditation maintenance fee. (For an explanation of the accreditation maintenance fee schedule, see Appendix I.)
7.6.2 Notwithstanding its status, every program must submit an Annual Report due 1 June of each year. This report must contain the following four parts:
a) Part 1 is the completed Annual Report statistics form, due every year on 1 June. The exception is the year in which an APR is due; then it is included in the APR. (See Appendix H.)
b) Part 2 contains the program’s response to each deficiency listed in the most recent VTR.
c) Part 3 contains the program’s response to each cause for concern listed in the most recent VTR.
d) Part 4 identifies changes, if any, in the accredited program that may change its adherence to the Conditions and reports on any other topic the program wants to bring to the attention of the NAAB.
Parts 2 through 4 are due on 1 June of every year except the year in which a program submits an APR and the year in which a program undergoes a team visit.
7.6.3 The NAAB reviews the Annual Report and produces a brief report of its findings.
a) If the NAAB finds that a reported change made by a program in response to a deficiency listed in the most recent VTR satisfactorily addresses that deficiency, the NAAB will release the program from further reporting on that item in subsequent Annual Reports.
b) If the NAAB finds that a reported change made by a program does not satisfactorily address the deficiency listed in the most recent VTR, the program will be required to continue reporting on its efforts to address that deficiency.
c) If a school has adequately addressed the issues that necessitated a reduced term of accreditation, the NAAB may extend the reduced term.
7.6.4 If a program fails to submit a complete Annual Report the NAAB may advance the schedule for the program’s next accreditation sequence. In such case, a schedule is determined so that the program has adequate time to prepare an APR, and the chief academic officer of the institution is notified of the foreshortened schedule and the reasons that caused it.
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Follow Up
