A team from Middle States Commission of Higher Education recently visited Le Moyne College to review the progress the college has made since it received a warning in June 2016.

The review team completed a report during their time at Le Moyne on April 3 and April 4, which consisted of what has been accomplished and recommendations for what still needs to be achieved. Now, this report will be sent into the Middle States Commission, carefully reviewed, and considered for the proposed action that will take place regarding the warning.

The presentation of this review was conducted by this team, taking place in Grewen Auditorium on the fourth at 10 a.m. All the seats were filled with prominent members of Le Moyne’s faculty and staff including the Dean of Learning Assessment Dr. James Hannan and Provost Marina, along with other department chairs and deans.

The team took the stage, addressing that Le Moyne had been placed on warning for Section 14, Assessment of Student Learning. It was explained that this section ensures that at graduation or other important points, students have the correct skills and competency. They stated that Le Moyne “appears to be in compliance with this standard.”

“One phrase that I was hoping to hear was ‘in the team’s judgment, Le Moyne appears to meet’ Standard 14 [Student Learning Assessment], and indeed the team used that phrase in their report,” said Hannan. “I am very encouraged that the visiting team reached this conclusion.”

The team noted that Le Moyne responded to the commission’s charge with commitment and collegiality, stating that the college is guided by good assessment practice, stewarded by the faculty. The aggressive timeline that the college was given and worked under, along with the “highly supported infrastructure” guided by the Dean of Learning Assessment and institutional assessment committee, were also acknowledged.

The core learning outcomes [CLO’s] brought about an area that the team also addressed. It was stated that in regards to core assessment findings, 78 percent of core targets were achieved, which will be a useful baseline for future assessments. In conjunction, institutional learning outcomes [ILO’s] were recognized to need more consistency within academic programs. Therefore, the team recommended that the college should assess these CLO’s beyond the basic introductory level in order to ensure that they are reinforced across the curriculum. In conjunction, they recommended that a detailed map should be developed, aligning ILO’s and CLO’s with co-curricular outcomes.  

The monitoring report that Le Moyne had completed, showed these results, as well as changes to weaker areas. These changes include a writing center that will be implemented, faculty development, participation in regional and assessment conferences, etc.

After this visit to review the college’s standings, the college will receive a copy of this briefing.

“The institution is required to respond to the draft with corrections of fact,” said Dr. Hannan. “The team then submits a final version of the report to the Middle States Commission, and the institution then submits a brief response to the final report.”

The Middle States Commission of Higher Education will review documents, the college’s response and the brief for the proposed action, eventually coming to the conclusion of Le Moyne’s standings. The institution will be notified in June of their status.

“I want to thank the college and we hope that Le Moyne college is open to the ideas, recommendations and accommodations,” stated the Middle States team. “We arrived at the college very impressed with the remarkable amount of work that has been done within such a little amount of time.”