Lived Experiences in Accreditation: The Influence of Accreditation Decisions on Change Implementation
American universities that offer an education to future chiropractic physicians must complete a reaffirmation of accreditation process with the Council on Chiropractic Education, an agency that maintains recognition by the United States Department of Education. Administrators of programs are typically assigned the task of operationalizing the changes required by the accreditation process, which frequently entails concerns surrounding education outcomes or the assessment of student learning. This qualitative descriptive study sought to better understand the lived experiences of chiropractic education program administrators from leading change in assessment practice, as the result of implementing recommendations from the accreditation process. The data obtained from this study enabled the researcher to identify five themes and five subthemes that influenced change in assessment practice that was implemented as the result of accreditation decisions. These themes were: (a) nurturing assessment cultures in transition, (b) using accreditation as a carrot or stick in assessment initiatives, (c) using leadership to advance a vision and promote facilitation, (d) creating teams as a catalyst in facilitating change and stimulating program improvement, and (e) managing barriers in the change process. In support of the theme of using leadership to advance a vision and promote facilitation, three subthemes were identified as: (a) leading is more than delivering a letter from the CCE, (b) we needed to build trust to move forward, and (c) authenticity is necessary as a part of practice. To organize the salient points in the theme of managing barriers in the change process, two subthemes were identified: (a) financial and human resources, and (b) time is a necessity — change fatigue is a reality. The proposed solution is to create an assessment leadership workshop and collaborative forum for administrative leaders of CCE accredited programs in efforts to stimulate the various leadership tenets identified by this research and the literature. Keywords: Administration, leadership, assessment of student learning, professional development
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