Five Dimensions of Quality: A Common Sense Guide to Accreditation and Accountability by Linda Suskie (review)

Linda Suskie has written an excellent primer for anyone interested in accreditation and accountability at an institution of higher education. For those new to the world of institutional effectiveness, this a great introduction to the various components of it. Even for those of us who have been involved in institutional effectiveness, it is good to remind ourselves of the “big picture” from time to time. We all face the danger of being enmeshed in the details of, say, assessment. We need to be reminded of why we do what we do. Suskie’s book does just that.

Suskie subtitles the book: A Common Sense Guide to Accreditation and Accountability. Unfortunately, I do not find common sense to be common, thus, the subtitle may be somewhat misleading. A better way to put it might be to say, a no non-sense guide to accreditation and accountability. Suskie describes accreditation and accountability as consisting of five dimensions or cultures: relevance, community, focus and aspiration, evidence, and betterment. She first establishes the context for the importance of the five dimensions. Her first chapter is devoted to explaining why higher education is seemingly under attack and clearly identifies three general issues that have driven the desire for accreditation and accountability:

• • Economic development

• • Return on investment

• • The changing college student

The problem is succinctly summarized by stating: “Simply put, there is a growing perception—and evidence—that U. S. Colleges are no longer meeting the United States’ needs effectively” (P. 3). Suskie goes on to explain the milieu higher education operates in today and why that has led to the emphasis on accreditation and accountability. I have come to believe the current climate is not temporary and will likely be with us for a long time.

Suskie describes each of the dimensions, or cultures, in detail. Two of the more interesting and helpful features of the book are a list of acronyms and boxes with jargon alerts. Jargon alerts are scattered throughout the book in boxes and define terms peculiar to accreditation and institutional effectiveness. Suskie also provides practical advice on addressing the five dimensions of quality. An example:

While I offer many suggestions on setting targets in this chapter, there is only one real hard-and-fast rule: targets must be justifiable. You must be able to convince your stakeholders that your targets are appropriately rigorous. You must be able to explain not only what minimally acceptable student achievement is, but why you consider that level minimally acceptable.

(p. 174)

The book consists of several parts. The introduction lays out the current context of American higher education by discussing the reasons for its being under scrutiny and the reasons to commit to an overall culture of excellence. Suskie also outlines why, after decades of focus by accrediting bodies on institutional effectiveness, it is still so hard to affect that bit of culture. Quality is defined by reputation, not effectiveness. She rightfully points out that many of the ranking systems we use for higher education are based on the reputations of the institutions, not their effectiveness. Assessment and teaching impact are not supported internally or financially, thus, they are not areas of productivity. A culture of irrelevance pervades higher education. Programs are offered based on what faculty want to teach, rather than what students need to succeed in careers. Higher education suffers from a reticence to advertise its achievements and its failures. Change is not valued in higher education, thus it is hard. Institutions of higher education are divided by academic and support departments, schools and colleges tend to exist as a collection of silos that rarely work together for the good of students. “The five cultures of quality require working together collegially—to develop goals and plans, to improve programs and services—and that can’t happen when people behave disrespectfully or feel disrespected” (p. 43). Academic freedom is one of, if not the most...