Cornell University Division of Planning and Budget

• Accreditation Overview
• Process
• Standards
• Trends
• Reports
• Substantive Change
• Specialized Accreditation

Trends in Accreditation

Middle States Commission’s standards and requirements for accreditation changed dramatically in 2002, right after Cornell submitted its most recent Decennial Self-Study.

New Standards for Accreditation

Middle States’ new standards require that colleges deal explicitly with outputs or educational outcomes. To use Middle States’ words, “the updated standards concentrate on assessment: evidence that the institution is achieving its goals.” All 14 accreditation standards now include an assessment component.

Earlier standards focused largely on educational inputs (the quality of students and faculty, library holdings, computer resources, financial resources) and educational processes (curricula, teaching methods, etc.).