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Criterion Committees:
Criterion 1
Criterion 2
Criterion 3
Criterion 4
Criterion 5

The Higher Learning Commission Criteria for Accreditation and Operational Indicators

Criterion Three: Student Learning and Effective Teaching

The organization provides evidence of student learning and teaching effectiveness that demonstrated it is fulfilling its educational mission.

Core Component – 3A.  The organization’s goals for student learning outcomes are clearly  tated for each educational program and make effective assessment possible.

Examples of Evidence:

• The organization clearly differentiates its learning goals for undergraduate, graduate, and post-baccalaureate programs by identifying the expected learning outcomes for each.
• Assessment of student learning provides evidence at multiple levels: course, program, and institutional.
• Assessment of student learning includes multiple direct and indirect measures of student learning. 
• Results obtained through assessment of student learning are available to appropriate constituencies, including students themselves. 
• The organization integrates into its assessment of student learning the data reported for purposes of external accountability (e.g. graduation rates, passage rates on licensing exams, transfer rates).
• The organization’s assessment of student learning extends to all educational offerings, including credit and noncredit certificate programs.
• Faculty are involved in defining expected student learning outcomes and creating the strategies to determine whether those outcomes are achieved.
• Faculty and administrators routinely review the effectiveness and uses of the organization’s program to assess student learning.

Core Component – 3B.  The organization values and supports effective teaching.

Examples of Evidence:

• Qualified faculty determine curricular content and strategies for instruction.
• The organization supports professional development designed to facilitate teaching suited to varied learning environments.
• The organization evaluates teaching and recognizes effective teaching.
• The organization provides services to support improved pedagogies.
• The organization demonstrates openness to innovative practices that enhance learning.
• The organization supports faculty in keeping abreast of the research on teaching and learning, and of technological advances that can positively affect student learning and the delivery of instruction.
• Faculty members actively participate in professional organizations relevant to the disciplines they teach.

Core Component – 3C. The organization creates effective learning environments.

Examples of Evidence:

• Assessment results inform improvements in curriculum, pedagogy, instructional resources, and student services.
• The organization provides an environment that supports all learners and respects the diversity they bring.
• Advising systems focus on student learning, including the mastery of skill required for academic success.
• Student development programs support learning throughout the student’s experience regardless of the location of the student.
• The organization employs, when appropriate, new technologies that enhance effective learning environments for students.
• The organization’s systems of quality assurance include regular review of whether its educational strategies, activities, processes, and technologies enhance student learning.

Core Component – 3D. The organization’s learning resources support student learning and effective teaching.

Examples of Evidence:

• The organization ensures access to the resources (e.g, research laboratories, libraries, performance spaces, clinical practice sites) necessary to support learning and teaching.
• The organization evaluates the use of its learning resources to enhance student learning and effective teaching.
• The organization regularly assesses the effectiveness of its learning resources to support leaning and teaching.
• The organization supports students, staff, and faculty in using technology effectively.
• The organization provides effective staffing and support for its learning resources.
• The organization’s systems and structures enable partnerships and innovations that enhance student learning and strengthen teaching effectiveness.
• Budgeting priorities reflect that improvement in teaching and learning is a core value of the organization.