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Lack
of updated core will not affect SACS The lack of an updated core curriculum will probably not prevent TCU from receiving re-accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, said William Koehler, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs. However, it may displease the SACS committee that a core revision recommended in 1992 has still not been met, he said. “At the last SACS review of TCU, they basically said that the university was not assessing its university curriculum requirements and that it needed to do so,” Koehler said. Koehler said it is unlikely that TCU will be penalized for not having a new core curriculum implemented in time for the SACS committee visit in spring 2003. But adopting a new curriculum by that time would demonstrate that the university is dedicated to the students’ overall educational experiences, he said. “I’m hoping SACS will understand that in fact we have adopted the principles, the concept of outcomes and assessment, and that those are intrinsic in our proposed core curriculum,” Koehler said. Koehler said depending on both TCU’s report to SACS and the visiting committee, the team could find that TCU is deficient in core curriculum assessment. He said that if that happens, they may tell TCU to write a report detailing what the university will do to correct this. “If that comes about, then our follow-up report will be that we’ve adopted a new curriculum, which is outcomes based,” Koehler said. Koehler said he had hoped the Common Undergraduate Experience, a complete revamping of the university’s curriculum that has been in progress for more than a year, would be in place by this fall. However, progress on the CUE was slowed recently amid increased faculty debate about its effectiveness. Since the proposed curriculum is not in place and the self-study evaluates current programs, TCU’s report to SACS will provide an extensive review of the current curriculum while considering that an updated version will be implemented, said Gene Smith, chairman of the Educational Programs committee. “We address the issue that the current core is undergoing revision,” Smith said. “It’s almost like you put a footnote saying that this is what our current program does, yet there are going to be changes.” Unlike the current discipline-oriented core, the new core will include an assessment mechanism that examines what characteristics, knowledge and abilities the university wants students to have when they leave TCU, Smith said. “Currently, the core as it operates does not have any means for assessing progress of students and measuring the progress of students against one another,” Smith said. “That’s one of the biggest elements that the new core program needs to have.” Universities can lose accreditation if they fail to meet any of the 13 conditions of eligibility and serious problems will delay accreditation for 10 years. Without re-accreditation, a university could lose all federal aid, including student loans and permission for credit transfers to other educational institutions. Laura
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