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Happy January to all! This newsletter is packed with information and opportunities for AAQEP members. Read on for news about these highlights:
... and much more!
Milestones: AAQEP Accredits 50th Provider
as Membership Grows to 170
Congratulations to the educator preparation providers that earned AAQEP accreditation in the past 2 months, bringing the total number of AAQEP-accredited providers to 50:

  • Hartwick College
  • Ithaca College
  • Keuka College (with commendation)
  • Pratt Institute
  • SUNY Old Westbury
  • Warner Pacific University

Kudos to all who've reached this milestone achievement (see the full list here)!
Meanwhile, the following providers have joined AAQEP in the past 2 months, bringing the membership up to 170 EPP members in 28 states and territories:

  • Brookdale Community College
  • Missouri Baptist University (affiliate member)
  • New Jersey Center for Teaching and Learning
  • #T.E.A.C.H. (Training Educators and Creating Hope)
  • Universal American University

Please join us in giving them a warm welcome!

See our searchable member directory for more information about the AAQEP community. We're grateful to be working with every one of you.
Site Visits & Logistics
A note from Sara Hiller, Director of Accreditation Services

It's exciting that 50 providers have already achieved accreditation, and I'm eager to help the rest of you do the same!

If you have a site visit in spring 2022, fall 2022, or spring 2023, please consider attending AAQEP’s Site Visit Essentials webinar next month. We’ll hold it Wednesday, February 2, to review important information about planning your site visit. While your logistics call focuses on specific details for your own review, the webinar goes over timelines and expectations that apply to all visits. We’ll be holding this webinar once each semester and recommend that everyone with visits in the next 18 months or so attend.

Here’s a quick overview of where the action is in the current AAQEP accreditation cycles:

  • Fall 2021 (14 site visits): Now that all visits are complete, the accreditation decision meetings are in progress. To see the Accreditation Commission’s action record, click here
  • Spring 2022 (22 site visits): The spring reviews are well under way! If you're hosting a review and I have not contacted you already to confirm your Quality Review Team, you'll be hearing from me soon.
  • Fall 2022 (22 site visits): Nearly all fall visit dates have been confirmed, and I'll be reaching out to schedule your logistics calls in March. Friendly reminder: Quality Assurance Reports and local practitioner selection are due 6 months before your scheduled visit date.
  • Spring 2023 (31 site visits): I will email you in February to start securing specific site visit dates for next year.

For an overview of the AAQEP accreditation timeline and other member resources, visit this web page (and see below for the latest additions!). If you have any questions about the next step in your review, contact me at s.hiller@aaqep.org.
NEW! Member Resource Page for
Quality Assurance Reports

Many of you have asked to see samples of AAQEP members' Quality Assurance Reports (QARs), and we’re happy to begin sharing them on our website. The first batch to be released are samples of the reports' introduction; stay tuned for forthcoming samples from additional sections.

How to Access QAR Resources
Log in to AAQEP’s website and navigate to https://aaqep.org/qar-resources. You'll find logistical details, writing guidance, and samples of four members’ QAR introductions. This page can also be accessed via the Member Resources landing page.

Many thanks to colleagues at Le Moyne College, Pacific University, Salisbury University, and the University of Missouri-St. Louis for generously agreeing to share their work with other members.
Accreditation Proposals Due February 1

Writing an Accreditation Proposal? February 1 is the next quarterly match date for you to send AAQEP a proposal for peer feedback.

For information and resources related to Accreditation Proposals, log in to this members-only web page or contact Karen Lowenstein, director of member services, at k.lowenstein@aaqep.org.
Linda Suskie to Headline 2022 Opening Session
AAQEP is delighted to announce that Linda Suskie will give the opening keynote at the virtual 2022 Quality Assurance Symposium. The focus of the talk is "Keeping Accreditation Simple and Meaningful."

Symposium registrants will have an opportunity to engage in Q&A with the speaker following her presentation, which kicks off the 3-day online conference March 22 at 12:00 noon EDT.

Suskie is an internationally recognized consultant, writer, speaker, and educator on a broad variety of higher education assessment and accreditation topics. You can read more about Suskie on our website, and see below for thoughts from President/CEO Mark LaCelle-Peterson on the relevance of her work to AAQEP's.
Taking a Sensible Approach to Assessment & Accreditation

A note from Mark LaCelle-Peterson, President and CEO

AAQEP’s philosophy of assessment is summarized in the motto of the working group that created its evidence expectations: “Don’t do things that don’t make sense.” That might be why I have always found Linda Suskie’s approach to assessment and accreditation to be so refreshing—indeed, her Five Dimensions of Quality was influential in the initial framing of AAQEP, and her text Assessing Student Learning is valued across higher education. I hope you’ll be there for her keynote address, “Keeping Accreditation Simple and Meaningful,” at the fifth (!) AAQEP Quality Assurance Symposium in March.

Just last week, the 50th educator preparation provider achieved AAQEP accreditation. We’re still studying to learn the lessons of those providers' cases (sabbatical project, anyone?), but one dynamic is clear: programs are ensuring data quality and the usefulness of evidence gathered by engaging their P-12 partners in examining and improving it. Using measures that make sense to partners in the local educational ecosystem is one way to avoid doing things that don’t make sense. 

Remember, the descriptive generic term for accreditation is quality assurance, and it is not the accreditor that benefits from the assurance—it’s the many publics served by the accredited provider. When the assurance of quality is on the basis of mutually valued evidence, everybody wins!
Open Forum for AAQEP Members

Wednesday, February 23, 1:00-2:30 p.m. EST

"Urgent Teacher Shortages: Changing Needs and Responses"
 
The COVID pandemic and other recent pressures on teachers are amplifying chronic shortages and creating urgent new ones. Local and state authorities are loosening licensing and staffing requirements in order to keep schools running. How can preparation programs support P-12 partners and students as well as their own candidates and faculty in this environment? Come join your colleagues from across the country to discuss how you are responding to this acute need and the possibilities for short- and long-term solutions.

Registration is free and available to AAQEP members only. 
Come Review With Us!
A note from Christine DeGregory,
Director of Professional Learning

Whether it’s reviewing an Accreditation Proposal for a member beginning their self-study design or helping to affirm and verify evidence presented in a Quality Assurance Report during a site visit, peer reviewers are an essential and invaluable resource in the AAQEP system.

If you're not already active in AAQEP's reviewer corps, we'd love to have you join it! Volunteering as a peer reviewer benefits not only the program being reviewed but also the reviewer and the profession at large. Reviewing enables you to:
  • Contribute to the profession in a meaningful way
  • Gain a deeper understanding of AAQEP’s model and principles
  • Build your professional service record
  • Develop your professional network with peers
  • Engage in a close-up view of how colleagues across the country approach their work 

AAQEP reviewers are supported by self-paced online training modules, regular webinars, role-specific resources, and staff liaisons who can answer questions along the way. To learn more, visit AAQEP’s website or contact me at c.degregory@aaqep.org.
Welcome to the Board of Directors
Congratulations to the newest members of AAQEP’s Board of Directors! The following individuals were nominated by AAQEP members last fall and elected by the Board in December to begin service this month:

  • Gina Anderson, Associate Dean for Educator Preparation & Partnerships, Texas Woman's University
  • Jacob Easley II, Dean, Graduate School of Education, Touro College
  • Anne Marie Fenton, Director of Assessment, Georgia Professional Standards Board
  • Sharmila Mann, Principal, Education Commission of the States
  • J. Aaron Popham, Academic Dean, Teachers College, Western Governors University
  • Katherine Chen Tilley, Chinese Immersion Teacher, Alpine School District (UT)
  • Stephanie Wood-Garnett, President, Institute for Student Achievement

We're grateful to everyone who nominated colleagues or agreed to be nominated for this important service role—thank you!
Join a Workshop – Online or In Person
AAQEP professional learning is now available both online and in person! We look forward to relaunching campus-based workshops (with new safety precautions), in partnership with several of you as hosts, in addition to continuing our popular online offerings on a regular basis.

The full workshop curriculum engages participants in four topics related to quality assurance and program improvement, which can be approached in whatever order meets your program's needs:
  • Making the Case for Quality
  • Ensuring Data Quality and Equity
  • Using Data to Sustain Improvement
  • Quality Implementation

Online, each workshop is split into two 3-hour segments on consecutive days; in person, the same material is covered in a single full day. Choose whichever option works for you and be assured the content is the same, regardless of the mode or location.

As an AAQEP member, you always receive a discount on workshop registration. We also offer group discounts to encourage you to register a team from your program. (Note that space is limited for safety at in-person workshops—with reservations taken on a first-come, first-served basis.)

Click below to learn more about the workshop offerings and schedule, with available dates starting next week!
Thank You for the Annual Reports

We appreciate receiving your 2021 AAQEP Annual Reports and "cover page" survey responses! Staff are currently reviewing the submissions and following up on any missing information. We'll be updating our website and member database with report links and data next month. Members who submitted full Annual Reports will receive formal responses from staff this spring.
Is There a 2022 AAQEP Guide?
Not yet! While previous annual updates to the Guide to AAQEP Accreditation have come out in the winter, we're shifting the release to August beginning in 2022. For now, the 2021 edition is the most recent edition. (And as always, members may choose to work with any version of the Guide that has a publication year within 4 years of their scheduled site visit.)

Event Calendar
JAN 20 (TODAY!) – Member Quarterly: Creating an Authentic Culture of Evidence 
JAN 26 & 27 – Online Workshop: Making the Case for Quality
FEB 1 & 2 – In-Person Workshops at Iona College
FEB 2 – Free Member Webinar: Site Visit Essentials 
FEB 9 & 10 – Online Workshop: Ensuring Data Quality and Equity
MAR 3 – Free Member Webinar: Documenting Program Practices: QAR Appendices 
MAR 9 – Free Member Webinar: Writing the Accreditation Proposal
MAR 17 & 18 – In-Person Workshops at Stony Brook University
MAR 22–242022 Quality Assurance Symposium (Online) 
Recent back issues of this Member Update newsletter:
Questions? Suggestions? Please reach out at any time to your AAQEP liaison or contact Karen Lowenstein, director of member services, at k.lowenstein@aaqep.org.
AAQEP — Always improving together