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Academic Quality Improvement Program (AQIP):

The AQIP Systems Appraisal–Baldrige Option

Beginning with the 2010-11 academic year, AQIP is working closely with the Alliance for Performance Excellence, the association of state quality award programs modeled after the Malcolm Baldrige Award, to offer AQIP institutions a means for better aligning their work for accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) with their other quality efforts. HLC continues to control fully all aspects of its accreditation processes, and has not delegated any authority for accreditation to the Alliance for Performance Excellence, the Malcolm Baldrige Award program, or any state quality award programs.

Below are answers to the most frequently asked questions that institutions have posed about the AQIP Systems Appraisal–Baldrige Option. If you have additional questions, send them to aqip@hlcommission.org, and monitor this Web page for additional information.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the AQIP Systems Appraisal–Baldrige Option?

It is a pilot program for 2010-11 permitting experienced AQIP institutions in four states (Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, and Wisconsin) to use a state or national Baldrige-type award application and review to replace portions of a traditional AQIP Systems Portfolio Appraisal. If the pilot works well, AQIP hopes to expand the program to all 19 states in which HLC-accredited institutions are located.

What does “experienced AQIP institution” mean?

An experienced institution is one that has already completed at least one standard Systems Appraisal since joining AQIP.

What is “Baldrige”?

The Malcolm Baldrige Award program is a federally-sponsored award program intended to stimulate quality improvement in U.S. businesses, named by Congress after Ronald Reagan’s Secretary of Commerce. Numerous states have also created quality improvement programs, most modeled after the criteria and processes of the national program. AQIP is using “Baldrige” as a generic shorthand name for all those programs that strive to use competition for awards to stimulate quality improvement efforts in organizations—businesses, schools, universities, state agencies, and health care facilities.

What is the AQIP Systems Appraisal–Baldrige Option intended to accomplish?

AQIP worked with the Alliance for Performance Excellence to design a means to assist institutions using both Baldrige and AQIP to drive institutional quality improvement by reducing the overlap they perceived when pursuing both programs independently. Since both programs  focus on process improvement as the key to enhancing performance, there is much synergy between the two approaches, and many institutions found themselves “cutting and pasting” between their AQIP Systems Portfolio and their Baldrige application. The AQIP Systems Appraisal–Baldrige Option reduces overlap and may help institutions better align both programs for more rapid and sustained institutional improvement. Rather than a traditional Systems Portfolio, the institution would prepare an AQIP/Baldrige Systems Portfolio.

Why can’t an institution simply use Baldrige to maintain its accreditation? Why can’t AQIP simply accept a Baldrige review in place of a standard Systems Appraisal?

Neither the national Baldrige program nor the state versions were designed specifically as higher education quality assurance processes like the ones followed by institutional accreditors, such as the Higher Learning Commission. All HLC accredited institutions are expected to produce a self-assessment or self-study using the Commission’s accreditation criteria. Although Baldrige programs ask key questions about an organization’s leadership, stakeholders, key processes, and performance, they do not require applicants to present evidence on many of the topics that are fundamental to accreditation, such as student learning, faculty qualifications, academic integrity, governance, and general education. Therefore, while AQIP thinks it can incorporate a Baldrige application and feedback report into its Systems Appraisal process, it must retain those aspects of the process that allow the Commission to determine that the institution meets its Criteria for Accreditation.

In addition, the Commission trains and uses peer reviewers specifically to evaluate these  institutional self-assessments or self-studies. Baldrige or state quality examiners are not HLC-trained peer reviewers, and therefore do not qualify to provide official evaluation or feedback on matters specifically related to accreditation. However, an AQIP team composed exclusively of HLC-trained reviewers can review an AQIP/Baldrige Systems Portfolio that includes a Baldrige or state quality application and feedback report.

For institutions applying for a Baldrige program, what does AQIP see as a reasonable modification of a Systems Appraisal of an institution’s Systems Portfolio?

The AQIP Systems Appraisal–Baldrige Option will permit an AQIP institution that has already had at least one standard Systems Appraisal to provide an alternative AQIP/Baldrige Systems Portfolio composed of two parts: the institution’s application for a state or national quality award, including the feedback report it received from that application, and a concise, structured narrative report of no more than 50 pages explaining how the institution meets each of HLC’s Criteria for Accreditation. The evidence referenced in this narrative will appear in the Baldrige material or in additional documentation available to reviewers on specifically identified pages on the institution’s Web site.

The AQIP Systems Appraisal–Baldrige Option team will review this two-part AQIP/Baldrige Systems Portfolio and, unlike the standard Systems Appraisal Feedback Report, will provide analysis predominantly focused on how well it meets expectations for accreditation. Since the report from the Baldrige program will have already given the institution focused feedback on quality improvement, together the two reports will provide full evaluation and feedback on the institution’s standing on both quality assurance and quality improvement.

What are the benefits of getting improvement feedback from a quality award program rather than from AQIP?

A state or national quality award typically requires a 50-page application and provides an applying organization feedback on its strengths and opportunities for improvement. Given the diversity of quality experts who serve as examiners for state or national programs, people from a wide range of enterprises, quality award feedback may give institutions insights for improvement that they might not get from AQIP Systems Appraisal teams, which are primarily composed of higher education faculty and administrators. These quality experts come from service businesses, manufacturing, and other enterprises, and may see strengths and opportunities for improvement that educators miss.

How will the AQIP Systems Appraisal–Baldrige Option review our AQIP/Baldrige Systems Portfolio for compliance with the Criteria for Accreditation?

The standard AQIP Systems Appraisal requires institutions to submit an Index to the Criteria for Accreditation along with the 100-page Systems Portfolio. The Index summarizes where reviewers can find evidence pertaining to the Criteria in the Systems Portfolio or in other public institutional documents available on the institution’s Web site. The Index allows Systems Appraisal teams to give institutions feedback on areas where they may not have yet presented a strong case that they meet all Criteria for Accreditation.

For the AQIP Systems Appraisal–Baldrige Option, each institution will submit a narrative of no more than 50 pages explaining how it meets the Criteria for Accreditation and summarizing where the evidence for compliance with the Criteria can be found. Evidence cited could be in the Baldrige application or feedback report (which must accompany the narrative) or in documents accessible on the institution’s Web site. The narrative will describe how well this evidence shows that the institution meets each accreditation requirement, and AQIP Systems Appraisers will provide feedback on both the presentation of this evidence and its sufficiency.

An AQIP team will critically study the evidence that an institution meets the Criteria for Accreditation, and provide prompt, focused, and actionable feedback on any potential problems the institution might need to address. The review should leave no doubt, for the institution or anyone else, that the institution meets the same requirements as every other HLC-accredited institution.

What will the AQIP Systems Appraisal–Baldrige Option cost?

AQIP is currently working on the details. It is probable that AQIP will conduct the first AQIP Systems Appraisal–Baldrige Option reviews in spring or summer 2012 and understands that institutions will need to know the details and costs before they elect the Option. For institutions already striving for a quality award, the AQIP Systems Appraisal–Baldrige Option should save money and help better align quality improvement activities. For institutions that have never applied for a quality award before, selecting the Option will raise both their costs and work (because of the fees and requirements of the quality award program), but potentially should increase the benefits the institution receives.

Other aspects of an institution’s involvement in AQIP—Action Projects, Annual Updates, Strategy Forums, and Reaffirmation of Accreditation—will not change.

When will AQIP explain what the narrative required by the AQIP Systems Appraisal–Baldrige Option must cover, and how it should be organized?

The narrative required by the AQIP Systems Appraisal–Baldrige Option will typically run 30–50 pages (50 is the maximum) and must explain clearly to the review team how the institution meets the Criteria for Accreditation and upon what evidence its claims rest. Specific guidelines (question-prompts, style and format requirements, examples) will be available in spring 2011. Because this narrative incorporates references to the institution’s quality award application and response, the narrative itself must be completed after the institution has gone through the quality award review process.

How do I learn more?

AQIP will keep everyone informed as the Option develops more fully. Visit this Web page regularly for the latest details. In the meantime, send additional questions and suggestions to aqip@hlcommission.org.