SUMMARY OF COMMISSION ACTION
Washington Adventist University
Program Type: Baccalaureate
Takoma Park, Maryland
Spring 2011 decision of Continuing Accreditation with Warning is continued pending appeal filed May 2014.
This is a summary of the action taken by the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN) at its meeting on March 13-14, 2014.
The Board of Commissioners voted to deny continuing accreditation to the baccalaureate nursing program. This decision is based on the ACEN policy that continuing accreditation is denied to programs with warning status that are found to be in non-compliance with any Accreditation Standard.
Evidence of Non-Compliance by Accreditation Standard and Criterion
Standard 1 Mission and Administrative Capacity, Criteria 1.3 and 1.5
- There is a lack of evidence that the communities of interest have provided input into program processes and decision-making.
- The nursing education unit has not been consistently administered by a nurse who holds a graduate degree with a major in nursing and is doctorally prepared.
Standard 2 Faculty and Staff, Criteria 2.2, 2.5, and 2.9
- There is a lack of evidence that all faculty hold a minimum of a master’s degree with a major in nursing.
- There is a lack of evidence that there are sufficient full-time faculty to meet the needs of the students and program.
- There is a lack of evidence that faculty are systematically evaluated and evaluations by the students are included in performance reviews.
- There is a lack of a systematic formal process for evaluation of part-time faculty to ensure faculty demonstrate competencies that are consistent with program goals.
Standard 4 Curriculum, Criteria 4.2, 4.3, 4.6, and 4.7
- There is a lack of evidence that the student learning outcomes are used to organize the curriculum, guide the delivery of instruction, direct learning activities, and evaluate student progress.
- There is a lack of evidence that the curriculum has been consistently reviewed by the faculty for integrity, rigor, and currency.
- There is a lack of evidence of incorporation of interprofessional collaboration into the curriculum.
- There is a lack of evidence that clinical evaluation methods reflect professional and practice competencies.
Standard 6 Outcomes, Criteria 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4.1, 6.4.3, 6.4.4, and 6.4.5
- There is a lack of evidence that the systematic plan of evaluation emphasizes the ongoing assessment and evaluation of the student learning outcomes, the program outcomes, role-specific graduate competencies, and the ACEN Standards.
- There is a lack of evidence that evaluation findings have been aggregated, trended, and used to inform program decision-making for the improvement of the student learning outcomes and the program outcomes.
- Evaluation findings have not been consistently shared with the communities of interest.
- The licensure examination pass rates have not met the expected level of achievement for at least five (5) years.
- There is a lack of evidence that graduate satisfaction has been consistently evaluated at the appropriate intervals in an ongoing and systematic manner.
- There is a lack of evidence that employer satisfaction has been consistently evaluated at the appropriate intervals in an ongoing and systematic manner.
- There is a lack of evidence that job placement rates have been consistently evaluated at the appropriate intervals in an ongoing and systematic manner.
The baccalaureate program has the right to forward comments regarding the Commission decision to the ACEN by May 7, 2014. The ACEN will forward to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education any comments submitted by the baccalaureate nursing program.