EXTERNAL REVIEW

If your program is not accredited by an external accrediting agency (e.g., NASM), you are required to utilize an outside (external to Westmont) reviewer who will review program materials and submit a written analysis as part of your program review process.

Timeline for an External Reviewer Selection

In the Spring semester prior to submitting the Self-Study report, the department chair is responsible for identifying 3-4 qualified reviewers and submitting the list of eligible candidates to the dean of Curriculum and Educational Effectiveness using the External Reviewer Request Form.

Selection/Qualifications of External Reviewers

When submitting external reviewer recommendations, please consider the following criteria:

  • possess appropriate terminal degree
  • have substantial teaching experience at the undergraduate level
  • have experience with program administration
  • have experience with assessment of student learning outcomes, program review, and accreditation
  • are aware of Westmont’s mission and purpose

In order to ensure a truly external perspective, the department should avoid reviewers with current personal ties to Westmont. Examples of such ties would include being a recent Westmont employee or related to a Westmont employee, having recently candidated for a position at Westmont, and having children currently enrolled at Westmont. In any case, all relationships between a proposed reviewer and the department faculty and staff should be noted in the recommendations.

The Dean of Curriculum and Educational Effectiveness will contact potential candidates to verify their availability and suitability and, with the Provost, make the final determination of external reviewers selected from the faculty’s recommendation list.

Compensation for External Reviewer Expenses

Compensation for external reviewer expenses is determined by the Provost Office. Once a reviewer is selected and approved, the Provost Office manages the necessary paperwork for the hire.

For his or her participation in the program review process, the Provost Office will provide each reviewer with an honorarium and reimbursement for local travel. If a candidate is not local, the department chair and provost will have a discussion around resources to support the site visit.

If the department wants to invite more than one external reviewer they need to receive the Provost’s approval and may be asked to share the cost of the second reviewer travel expenses and honorarium.

Expectations of the External Reviewer

External reviewers are utilized after the Self-Study report has been written. Reviewers are expected to read the Self-Study report in its entirety; gather additional information by interviewingfaculty, students and staff;and may request supplementary materials[1] from a program in order to:

  • review curricular offerings for relevance, currency, and quality;
  • review the appropriateness and effectiveness of strategies used to assess student learning and program outcomes;
  • ensure decisions and actions taken by the department/program, based on assessment, are in keeping with best practices in the academic discipline;
  • evaluate the quality of faculty teaching and breadth of faculty scholarly activities and accomplishments;
  • evaluate the program’s effectiveness at recruiting and retaining successful students;
  • evaluate the program’s resources, budget, staffing, faculty and student diversity, and facilities;
  • provide an evidence-based analysis of the program’s strengths and areas in need of improvement relative to comparable programs.

Program Review Materials:

The department needs to send the following documents to the reviewer at least six week before his/her visit:

  • Self-Study report with all appendices
  • Links to the departmental website with the information about the program, departmental faculty, program mission statement and goals, learning and research opportunities for students, PLOs, Multi-Year Assessment Plan ad Current Map.
  • Evidence of student learning (test results, graded student works, and other appropriate artifacts)

The Dean of Curriculum will provide the reviewer with the External Reviewer Summary Sheet. Upon consultationwith the Dean the department may revise the aforementioned sheet before requesting an external reviewer for their program.

Site Visit

External reviewers requirevisiting the campus in order to verify materials referenced by the program and to interview faculty, students, and administrators in order to obtain the most accurate information. Campus visits should be scheduled approximately six weeks after the reviewer receives the Self-Study report and other relevant materials, typically in October or November of year 5. Campus visits should not exceed two days; a one-day site visit is preferred.

As the host, your department is responsible for:

  • sending the Self-Study and all relevant, requested materials in a timely manner
  • construct a reviewer’s visit schedule upon consultation with the Provost office. As a rule, the Provost and Dean of Curriculum and Educational Effectiveness meet with the reviewer for 15-30 minutes upon his/her arrival on campus. The Dean also meets with the reviewer for 30-45 minutes at the end of the site visit. This meeting is usually followed by the Provost’s meeting with the reviewer which lasts about 45 minutes.
  • designating a private, secure office/workspace for the external reviewer to use during his or her site visit. This includes setting up the external reviewer’s office with office supplies and evidence.
  • scheduling rooms for all external reviewer’s discussions with students, alumni, faculty, staff, and administrators and providing the Provost Office with a site visit schedule.
  • informing the program’s students, staff and faculty about the site visit and preparing them to participate in individual meetings and group discussions with the external reviewer.

External Review Report

The external reviewer’s report will focus on insights from the Self-Study report, other relevant documents and the site visit evidence and will include recommendations from the perspective of experts in the program’s discipline. The external reviewer will use the criteria from the External Reviewer Summary Sheet as the basis of his/her report. The external reviewer will submit two electronic copies of External Reviewer Summary Sheet – one to the department and one to the Provost Office–within a week following the campus visit and the final report within four weeks of the campus visit.

The department will take the reviewer’s report into consideration while developing their Action Plan and Executive Summary.

If department faculty disagree with the external reviewer's evaluation of the program or his/her recommendations, the faculty may submit a formal written response to the external reviewer’s report, which will be considered at the meeting between department faculty, the Provost and the Dean of Curriculum and Educational Effectiveness.

[1]Large files such as faculty CVs and samples of student work should be available electronically and/or during the site visit, but will not be mailed to external reviewers.