Cincy State is commended for Accreditation Interim Report

Cincinnati State received commendation from the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) on Sep. 30, 2021, in response to the College’s Interim Report on assessment of learning outcomes.

The 2021 Interim Report was required by HLC after the April 2019 HLC Comprehensive Review of Cincinnati State’s accreditation status.

• The next HLC Comprehensive Review at Cincinnati State will occur during the 2023-24 academic year.
   
• An HLC visit to review College operations on other campuses (Middletown and Harrison) is scheduled to take place in March 2022.

The 2021 interim report submitted by the College provided evidence of progress in assessing institutional, program, and department learning outcomes.

The interim report also showed how the results from learning outcomes assessments are used to improve student learning.

Click to download the full HLC response to the interim report (6-page PDF)

The HLC response to the Interim Report said:

“Cincinnati State is commended for the efforts it is making to improve the assessment of student learning outcomes and to make curricular revisions based on the assessment findings”

“The interim report submitted provided a thorough, comprehensive, clear description of its responses to the area of concern identified by the HLC Team which conducted the 2019 Compehensive Quality Review visit.”

The HLC response also noted:

“The activities and initiatives implemented by CSTCC to strengthen and enhance the assessment of student learning outcomes includes faculty, student affairs staff, administrators, advisory board members, and other external resources. Students have also been included in the assessment activities.”

“The interim report presented multiple examples of the ways CSTCC has put its committment to assessment of student learning into practice across the campus.”

Provost Robbin Hoopes thanked the faculty Program Chairs and Department Chairs, as well as the members of the College-wide Learning Outcomes Assessment Committee, for their work leading to the HLC commendation.

“Your ongoing assessment of learning outcomes is absolutely crucial to documenting the excellence of our instruction at the program and college-wide levels, to strategically improving instruction, and to maintaining HLC accreditation,” Provost Hoopes said.

Background: What is Accreditation?

The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) is one of several higher education accreditors recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.

Accreditation review is a quality control process that validates the quality of academic programs at all degree levels, regardless of delivery format.

The accreditation process also evaluates the institution as a whole, including the soundness of governance and administration, the way in which the institution carries out its mission, and the institution’s financial sustainability and sufficiency of resources.

Institutional accreditation from HLC gives students assurance that degrees earned from Cincinnati State are of high quality and that course credits are transferable to other colleges and universities. Institutional accreditation also ensures that students can receive federal financial aid.