INSTRUCTIONS FOR SCHOOLS AND MEMBERS OF THE ACCREDITATION TEAM


1. Preliminary remarks
The accreditation visit is the culmination of the entire accreditation process. During the visit the School meets directly with the Accrediting Association and can, as if looking at oneself in a mirror, see its good points and its deficiencies. On the other hand, the Accrediting Association gets to know the school directly and makes an assessment of it. Thus, the accreditation visit focuses on the work of the School and carries great importance.
Both the School and the members of accreditation team must be well prepared for the visit. The School, then, should not resort to embellishment or covering up its deficiencies, and the members of the visiting team should not resort to mere criticism and excessive severity. On the other hand, the School should not disregard the special preparation and the correct display of its deficiencies, and the members of the accreditation team should not tolerate closing their eyes to obvious mistakes and insufficiencies in the activities of the institution being evaluated.
There are two types of accreditation visits:
Familiarization visit – that is, the first visit to a School, is made with the goal of getting a general impression of the School as well as to determine if there exists a real possibility to receive accreditation. That is, the team comes to a conclusion whether or not the there is a realistic possibility to begin the process of accreditation at this School. All materials received are presented to a regular session of the EAAA Board which, in light of a positive conclusion from the accrediting team confers the status of “Candidate” for accreditation upon the School.
Evaluative visit (first, second, third, and so forth) – that is, the visits to the School subsequent to receiving the School's self-evaluation report. In this case, the goal of the visit is to become more deeply acquainted with the activities of the School in connection with the information given by the School in the self-evaluation report, as well as to recommend to the Board their conclusions as to the reality of the School being awarded full accreditation status, or under what conditions the School must fulfill in order to receive this status. If a School already has the status of full accreditation, then the evaluative visit is meant to show how it is maintaining that status.
1.2. The timing of the visit and the composition of the team
The timeframe for the accreditation team visit is approved by the EAAA Board with the agreement of, and at the convenience of, both the School and the members of the team. As a rule, the dates for the visit are set no less than six months prior to the Executive Director's presentation. He also presents the Board with the composition of the team and, as a rule, either himself or the office Coordinator participate in all visits with their expenses paid out of the Association's budget.
On the evaluative visit the visitation team must have at least one person who was on the team for the first visit. It is even better if the entire team is the same as on the first visit. The School's leadership can agree with the suggested composition of the team or can reject anyone on the team. Usually the team spends no more than three days at a School.
Prior to the accreditation visit the School's leadership should send to the Chairman of the accreditation team or to the Executive Director their preliminary agenda for the team's visit. This agenda is finalized after the arrival of the team at the School.
2. Preparing for the accreditation team
2.1. Usually members of the accreditation team are selected so that on the one hand there is not too close contact with a local School, and on the other hand, there won't be critical biases. Maximum objectivity is expected from all members on the accreditation team.
2.2. As a rule, the accreditation team will include the Executive Director and at least one member of the EAAA Board. This makes for a more objective evaluation so that it's possible to give a just opinion of other institutions. The remaining members of the team should come from the accreditation team pool of qualified experts who have been approved by the EAAA General Meeting and/or by the EAAA Board. The leader of the team (Chairman) is named by the Board. The team should generally be made up of no more than four people including the Executive Director. The School's top official (Director, Rector, and so forth) should approve of the visiting team's composition.
2.3. The transportation expenses of the accreditation team as well as the expenses for their room and board are paid by the School being evaluated. The transportation expenses of the Executive Director are covered from the budget of the Accrediting Association. In the case of foreign experts participating in the visit their expenses will be paid according to Russian (CIS) standards with the difference being covered out of the Association's budget.
2.4. Three rules for the accreditation team.
RULES FOR MEMBERS OF THE ACCREDITATION TEAM:
Rule #1:        
BE THOROUGHLY ACQUAINTED WITH THE EAAA'S MANUAL FOR ACCREDITATION
That is, all members of the accreditation team should know well the standards and criteria for accreditation in the EAAA, the process of accreditation, and also the instructions for an accreditation visit, self-evaluation, and so forth. On an evaluative visit the accreditation team members should also be well acquainted with the School's self-evaluation report.
Rule #2:
WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN
This means not only writing down all of your impressions, but also all observations, recommendations, and suggestions which will be left at the School or its individual staff. It is especially important at the end of the visit to formulate concluding remarks in written form that will remain at the School.
Rule #3:
FOLLOW AND COMPLETE THE AGENDA FOR THE VISIT
That is, all the members of the accreditation team should know precisely what they need to check for on the visit, not being haphazard, but completing everything during the timeframe of the visit.
3. The course of the visit from the viewpoint of the accreditation team
Prior to the visit the Chairman of the accreditation team will telephone all the members of the team, as well as the representatives of the School being evaluated, in order to clarify the exact arrival time of each member of the team and to set the time for the first meeting at the School of all the members of the team.
3.1. The First Day
Goal: meetings with the School's leadership, agreement on the visit's agenda, and preliminary familiarization with the School's documents.
3.1.1. Meeting of team members without School representatives
Having immediately gathered after their arrival, all the members of the accreditation team should once more familiarize themselves with all the documents they possess regarding the School and discuss the agenda for each day of their visit. They should discuss the strengths and weaknesses of all sides of the School. Each team member should be assigned specific tasks and obligations. That is, it is necessary to delegate the work of each member on the team in correspondence with the seven sections of the document: “Standards and criteria for accreditation”; who will be responsible for evaluating what section, which offices to visit, and to which exact meetings and discussions they should especially pay attention. Also to be discussed at this meeting is the prepared agenda for the visit and to work out its final form. Usually such a meeting takes no less than 1 ½ hours, of which at least 15 minutes should be devoted to prayer.
3.1.2 Meeting with the School's Leadership
The accreditation team begins its official work upon meeting with three key people at the School: the Director (Rector), the Academic Dean, and the chief administrator (each School can have its own titles and peculiarities).
At this meeting it is necessary, above all else, to discuss the agenda for the visit; that is, when and who will visit which offices, when the meetings with the students, with the teachers, etc., will take place, and so forth. Here it's also important to decide organizational questions such as the date and means of the accreditation team's departure, the possibility of any cultural programs, meal times, as well as to decide whether or not the accreditation team members will eat their meals separately in order to discuss how the evaluation is going or that they'll dine together with the administration and teachers.
This meeting should also include preliminary discussion of problematic questions, reflections in the report, or anything else that is known to the members of the accreditation team.
The first meeting should take place in a relaxed atmosphere, so that it's clear that the members of the accreditation team have come as colleagues and not as enemies. They have come to help increase the quality of the School's work. Any discussion of the School's weaknesses should be done in a proper and friendly way.

RECOMMENDATIONS
- When discussing problems don't be too quick to suggest your viewpoints or solutions. Rather ask those you're speaking with about how they would decide a problem given an ideal situation.
- It's best to listen carefully and to often ask precise questions, trying to ascertain if you have correctly understood the problem or question. (What you're saying is…? Have I understood you correctly..? and so forth).
- Don't forget to take notes and to write down everything as exactly as possible.
- Don't preach at the students and at general School gatherings. Rather observe and listen (you can limit your words of greeting).
The evening of the first day should be left free. The members of the accreditation team should decline an invitation to dine with the School's leadership so that they can have the possibility of exchanging their impressions of the visit so far, do some work on the documents reflecting the life of the School. Document selection should be carried out objectively and above all include not a selection but ALL class assignments and diploma work for the last year, examination and graded work for every group, the         personal work regime of all teachers, and so forth.
3.2. The second day
Goal: to become familiar enough with the school so that on the evaluative visit it's possible to answer the question: “Does the written report correspond with the reality of the situation?”
Three basic tasks should be conducted on this day:
        1. An inspection of the School's territory (property).
        2. Meetings with workers from various parts of the School.
        3. Study of the documents.

3.2.1 Inspection of the School's facilities
Jointly with a representative of the administration the team should inspect the School's buildings and territory becoming familiar with the situation of services and with the people working at the School. It's obligatory that the kitchen, library, classes in progress, and so forth, should be visited.
While inspecting the buildings most of all it's important to pay attention to their actual usage. Are they fulfilling their function? Are they well maintained? Are they sufficiently equipped? And so forth. Of course, don't forget the general economic situation in post-communist countries. Also, it's not worth it to make too high demands on the facilities.
3.2.2 Conduct and behavior during visits
While visiting offices meet with people right where they work because they will feel comfortable in their own place of work. And besides, all the necessary materials will be right there with them. Of course, all workers should be properly informed of the accreditation visit so that they can freely discuss their work.
3.2.2.1 Meeting with workers.
While visiting the kitchen check to see if the food is good. This is necessary not only for evaluating the School, but also from another side: it will be an honor for the kitchen workers to have you visit.
When visiting the library be sure to turn your attention not to the quantity of books, but rather to how many are actually used at the School and to whether or not it corresponds to the list of books used. It's important to track which books in what areas of theology are used the most. This tells about the teaching in these areas as well as where exactly it's necessary to invest money in the development of the library.
In the academic department it's important to look at documents which reflect the procedures used for admitting students, their entrance exams, and the work regime of the students and teachers.
The team must be especially scrupulous in visiting the accounting department. As a rule, this is considered the “holy of holies” of any school. It's harder to conduct interview here because this is not what guests usually do. Both sides are afraid to pose a question on coming to grips with the reality of the accounting situation. Here it's possible to rely on the results of audits conducted by the tax authorities, banks, or other auditors. It is obligatory to check the annual financial records for the last three years.
3.2.2.2. Meetings with students and teachers.
It's important to visit classes in session and to have meetings with students which must be conducted in the presence of teachers and/or administrators. It's usually very interesting to hold conversations with teachers as they tend to share the most pressing problems. The visiting team can ask about any aspect of their work, as well as about relations within the School and with the leadership of the School. Ask them what they think about their future desires for teaching. If a teacher has any problems with regard to the director or anyone else in the administration, then the accreditation team should ask him if he is ready to go to the director and tell him about this problem.
It's possible to arrange meetings with students, their teachers, the student council, and/or with any group outside the classroom. This would be an appropriate time to ask questions about the spiritual life of the students. This is a very difficult question to evaluate and the most honest answer can come from the students themselves. What is the students involvement in evangelism? Do they understand the needs of unbelievers? Speaking of evangelism, students often refer to the fact that they have too much homework and too little time to witness, to spend time with God in praying and reading the Bible. Don't be to hasty in reacting to these comments. Ask the students about their relations with their teachers. But be very careful with your final judgment of the situation.
3.2.2.3. Meeting with the School's Board of Directors
On an evaluative visit it is necessary to organize a meeting with the Board of Directors at which the members of the accreditation team can share their observations. This isn't obligatory if it's the first visit.
Don't expect immediate changes after visiting with the Board. But at least mutual understanding will have been established and the Board will know the weak points and problems they need to work on.
Ask the Board of Directors to give you a written answer to your suggestions.
RECOMMENDATIONS

- The visit to any part of the School should be conducted in the presence of a representative of the School. In such a meeting it naturally follows that the accreditation team knows the name of the person being talked with and their official position at the School.
- One of the first questions at any meeting should be: “What is your job?”. That is, does the worker know their responsibilities and carries them out in practice? Or are they involved in other work?
- Of course, work on the second day needs to be divided up amongst all the members on the team. One can go to the library, another to study the curriculum and diploma work, and so forth. Interviews with workers can also be divided up.
- On the evening of the second day there should be a meeting of the members of the accreditation team to review their collected information and impressions.

3.3. Third day
Goal: to come to a general impression of the situation at the School, to make one last, careful check of information, and to prepare recommendations.
The main result of this day is to write the first rough draft of the report on the visit.
While writing this report it's important to adhere to the following rules:
1. Everything should be based on the Standards.
That is, the team's report should be constructed according to the guidelines contained in the document “Standards and criteria for accreditation”, approved by the Association.
2. Speak about actual facts.
That is, in the report don't give one's own suggestions, reasoning, and so forth.
3. Give precise and friendly recommendations.
In this regard it's important to constantly remember that any final solutions to problems rests with the School which is being examined. It some circumstances it's necessary to explain why this or that recommendation has been made. For example, on the basis of such and such standard you need to change this or that.
4. Use gentle words, but avoid ambiguity. Make priorities         clear.
Now and then you could say: “we recommend…, we suggest…” But in many situations it's necessary to write: “In connection with point number such and such, section such and such you must do this or that.”
The team itself must precisely determine which points of the recommendations are priorities and which are not important and which hinder accreditation.
5. All recommendations, suggestions, demands, and so forth, need to be discussed with the School's leadership prior to         departure.
That is, it is necessary to reserve some time for a last meeting with the School's leadership. It is not possible to include in the team's report on the School recommendation and demands which have not been discussed with the School's leadership.
6. Conclusions should be included at the end of the report for the benefit of the EAAA Board showing the possibility of accreditation.
Conclusions and recommendations must reflect the positive as well as negative sides of the life of the School. They should be about three to four pages in length. As a rule, a report is not strictly needed on the first visit. On an evaluative visit the report usually includes the School's self-evaluation. The report should not repeat what is already included in the self-evaluation, but should address questions of improving the School's deficiencies. Those things that are clearly positive at the School should also be sufficiently noted.
7. The report must correspond with the requirements as         written in point 3.5 of the “Procedures for accreditation.”
This point states: “The report from an evaluative visit must describe the general situation of the school, showing its strengths and weaknesses, the work that is being done to bring the school in line with EAAA standards, and give recommendations for changing the situation in the future. Also included in the contents of the report must be the school's self-evaluation. At the end of the report the accreditation team should formulate recommendations to the EAAA Board.”
3.3.1. Agenda for Day Three
In the morning the members of the accreditation team should gather together with one of them writing the report as the rest give their recommendations and initial materials on those sections that they checked. This is better than each individual team member writing up their own report, although this is also an option. It is necessary to finish writing the report before the team departs the School so that a copy can be left with the leadership of the School being examined. This is also dictated by practical considerations: by the time the members of the accreditation team return home they will be very tired. Moreover, they are usually very busy people with other work already waiting them upon their arrival. Furthermore, once home members of the accreditation team can't check facts and observations which can be checked while they're still at the School.
If necessary the team can ask the School to provide a secretary to assist them in the morning of the third day, although it is better not to do this as the presence of a person from the School might hinder the members of the accreditation team in finishing their analysis.
3.3.2 After having written a rough draft and have verified all the needed factual information the members of the accreditation team meet with the School's leadership for a final interview and discussion on the results of the visit. Attending this meeting should be all the people that the team had met with on the first day. The School's administrators should thoroughly read the report and ask questions of clarification.
Don't demand immediate solutions from the School's leadership. Tell them that this is only a rough draft and that the final draft will be completed by the team within two weeks, after which the School has six weeks to present to the Executive Director its remarks, disagreements or other clarifications in written form.
The final decision is made by the EAAA Board on the basis of the accreditation team's report and the School's written report.
As a rule, do not change the team's comments in the text of the report even if the School doesn't agree with the deficiencies shown. It's better to present both documents (the accreditation team's opinion and the School's disagreements, in writing) to the EAAA Board for review.

FINAL RECOMMENDATIONS
Pray that you will see all the School's deficiencies, and then forget them and tell them to no one!

4. The course of the visit from the School's viewpoint
The leadership of the School must seriously and carefully prepare for the accreditation team's visit. Once the School knows the team's arrival date and composition it should put together a preliminary written agenda for the team's work, according to the given instructions, and send it to the Chairman of the team and/or the Executive Director no less than one month prior to the visit.
4.1 The School will need to take special care with meeting each member of the accreditation team as they will be arriving on different types of transport and at different times. Organize their room and board for their time at your School. To do this it's important to be in contact with the Chairman of the team or with the Executive Director by telephone in order to finalize their time of arrival and on which type of transport they will be arriving. There is another point that needs to be decided: Do the members of the accreditation team agree to stay at the School or would they like to stay in another location so as to have more freedom. Finalize the meal situation. Does the team desire to eat with the students and teachers or would they prefer to eat separately with their own group?
Check to see whether or not they will need any computer facilities and office equipment while they are there, or will they bring their own.
As soon as possible get together with the Chairman of the accreditation team or with the Executive Director in order to determine which staff they would like to speak with so that the agenda can be completed in a timely fashion.
All these details should be completed in a timely way in order to guarantee the right conditions for the team's work during the course of a short and intensive visit.
4.2 Prepare the teachers and students for the visit. Gather the teachers together, or write them a letter, explaining the School's obligations in regard to the accreditation team's visit. Explain to them that this is a group of experts who will be coming to advise their School on improving their work at the same time emphasizing their need to be open and sincere in answering all questions posed by the team. Notify them in advance that the members of the accreditation team can ask for any document that a staff member deals with, including accounting documentation, and that these papers should be courteously handed over to them. If a member of the accreditation team asks for all documents on a particular part of the School's work then the staff member can show the team member where they may be found.
A week before the team's visit it's desirable to have a meeting with all the students, professors, and staff so as to go over the details of the visit and how they will be carried out. At the meeting anyone present should ask any question and receive clear answers. This prepares the entire School for a benevolent meeting with the accreditation team and an openness in talks with team members.
Organize a time of prayer with the your School's faculty and students about the upcoming visit and for the members of the accreditation team.
4.3 Each staff member and student must know well the reasons why the School exists, its purpose and its Mission Statement so that if any accreditation team member asks, for example, the secretary, “What is your purpose working in the School?”, that is, “How does your work help fulfill the main purpose of the School?”, each staff member should be able to give a clear answer.
One to two weeks prior to the visit the School's Director (Rector) should gather the School's administration so as to prepare them organizationally, psychologically and spiritually for the visit.

RECOMM ENDATIONS

- Be open to working together. For example, if members of the accreditation team want to visit a certain class that for whatever reason is not currently on the class schedule, then try, if possible, to organize such a class.
- Try to become better acquainted with the members of the accreditation team. Show them that you understand their difficulties and situation. After all, each of them has come from their own time-consuming ministry in order to become familiar with your School's situation.
- If members of the accreditation team tell you of some deficiencies at your school don't argue with them. Rather answer: “Yes, I know about this problem. But I don't know how to overcome it. What would you do given this situation?” or “Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I hadn't noticed this before.”
- Don't share problems that the members of the accreditation team themselves have not brought up.
- Try to foresee questions the team might have about certain deficiencies and be prepared with explanations.
- At the final meeting try to objectively accept all the criticism the members of the accreditation team might present. Make certain that you have correctly understood their criticism and their suggestions.
- Prior to their departure offer the team a bite to eat.
4.4 If it's possible the School should prepare in advance a special room for the members of the accreditation team. The School's most important documents, which the team most certainly will request, can be brought here. This is especially important on an evaluative visit. Such documents might include: course work and diploma work for the last three years; the minutes of various committees, syllabi, grades for the last three years; accounting books for the last three years, and so forth. This ensures that the team will be able to work accurately and effectively. You can put refreshments, bread, fruit, etc., in the room so that the team feels more comfortable. The room must be locked at all times, due to the presence of confidential documents, with the key being in the possession of the accreditation team's Chairman.
Preparatory work well done will be a great help in exerting a favorable impression on the team as well as showing the School's seriousness in being prepared for the accreditation visit.
5. What's next?
In most instances the School will receive the accreditation team's report on the last day of their visit and should send a letter to the Executive Director with their reactions to the visit no later than 2 weeks after they have received the report. Admittedly, the School may receive the report of the visit from the Chairman of the team up to two weeks after the departure of the accreditation team. In such a situation during the course of the following six weeks it should send in its comments indicating its agreement or disagreement with the evaluation as well as its disagreements (if it can) with specific viewpoints in the report.
After the EAAA Board has been able to examine all the materials from the visit, the School will then receive an official, written reply from the Executive Director, and, if it had been a familiarization visit, a packet of documents (Manual) for conducting a self-evaluation.
5.1 The self-evaluation is a long and painstaking process which usually takes about a year.
In order to begin this process the School should organize a committee of two or three people chosen by the chairman. This committee is involved in doing the School's self-evaluation according to the “Manual” and standards of our Association. If needed the School can receive additional advice from the Executive Director or from a specially chosen expert.
5.2 After completing the self-evaluation, but no less than one year after receiving “Candidate” status, a School can present its self-evaluation report, according to the accepted format, and approved by its leadership
This report is then sent off to the Executive Director who makes a preliminary check to see if it meets the Association's accreditation process requirements and then passes it on to the Chairman of the accreditation team and informs the school of what has taken place. In this case the school can now send a letter of invitation to the Association inviting them to come for an evaluative visit.
5.3 Support for the level of accreditation
Support for the status of “Full” accreditation is sustained for a school only in the case where it and its accredited academic programs continue to adhere to the standards approved by the EAAA's General Meeting. A school which already has the status of “Full” accreditation is obligated to present to the Executive Director once a year, prior to October 5th, a written report in the format approved by the EAAA Board.
If the school is going through serious changes in its program or organizational structure, then the School's leadership is obligated, within a month, to inform the Executive Director of these changes.
Moreover, once every five years an accreditation team put together by the executive Director, with the Board's agreement from the pool of qualified experts who did not participate in the first and evaluative visits (with the exception of one person the Executive Director himself), will conduct a follow-up evaluation. Prior to this visit the School will give a self-evaluation report (as they had done for the first evaluative visit) and pays for both their accreditation fess and the expenses of the accreditation team.