The Sul Ross State University Office for Institutional Effectiveness (IE) has been invited to present at the annual conference of the Texas Association for Higher Education Assessment (TxAHEA).

The presentation, titled “One Size Fits All? Alignment Strategies for Assessments and Accreditation Requirements,” discusses the early-stage development of an internal, institutional tracker to align assessment standards and strategies for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), the institutional accreditor for SRSU.

“This alignment strategy allows for a quick understanding of department/division responsibilities across campus. The intention of the presentation is to give new IE professionals an idea of where to start, and it gives them a community of peers to lean on and learn from,” said April Aultman Becker, assistant vice president for Institutional Effectiveness.

While writing the SACSCOC Fifth Year Reaffirmation Report, required for accreditation, the IE office began brainstorming ways to organize, consolidate and simplify requests while also managing pending due dates. From these brainstorming sessions came the idea of a “Tracker of Trackers.”

Among many things, the TOT model allows any member of the IE office to retrieve a quick summary of departmental responsibilities and deadlines in order to establish priorities.

“This effort is closely aligned with the IE office’s value of people-first compliance and reporting. Though institutional requirements and reporting mandates are extremely important, the IE office recognizes that these requests require time, capacity and commitment on the part of our faculty, staff and administration,” said Kayla Waggoner, director of Institutional Assessment and Planning. “Understanding that the requirements of the SRSU IE office are the same for all other public institutions across the state of Texas, the office decided to share the early development of the tracker with other assessment and accreditation professionals.”

The conference will be held Sept. 23-25 in San Antonio.

TxAHEA strives to create an environment that supports open and effective communication among its members by providing resources, networking and professional development to enhance the quality, effectiveness, and scholarship of assessment and accreditation practices at institutions of higher education.

For more information, www.txahea.org or email kayla.waggoner@sulross.edu.