Cornell's reaccreditation team is putting out the word: Bring on the feedback.

The team is asking for comments on a 227-page draft report that not only describes Cornell's programs but also assesses how well those programs accomplish the university's goals and meet accreditation standards.

The final report will constitute a major part of the university's quest for reaccreditation in March 2011, said Marin Clarkberg, Cornell's accreditation liaison officer and director of Institutional Research and Planning. "We are now looking at the endgame," she said.

The reaccreditation committee, co-chaired by Alan Mathios, the Rebecca Q. and James C. Morgan Dean of the College of Human Ecology and professor of policy analysis and management, and by Kent Hubbell, the Robert W. and Elizabeth C. Staley Dean of Students and professor of architecture, has been meeting with university assemblies and other groups to encourage feedback on the draft, available at http://dpb.cornell.edu/MiddleStates/MS_Documentation.htm. Comments can be e-mailed to middlestates@cornell.edu. The committee will submit the final report to the accreditation organization, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, in early February 2011.

The report and Middle States' accreditation standards provide the context in which a team of peer evaluators will determine if Cornell can be accredited.

However, Middle States is not the primary audience for the report -- Cornell is, Clarkberg said.

"Accreditation can very easily come off as a bureaucratic process -- that we're jumping through hoops and someone else is peering in to see if we're a fine institution," she said. "But Middle States is very conscientious in trying to convey the message that this exercise is primarily about our need to learn about ourselves. ... The purpose of the self-study is to advance institutional self-understanding and self-improvement."

The first two chapters provide an overview of Cornell. Chapters 3 through 9 make the case that Cornell meets 14 standards involving institutional stewardship; student admissions and support; faculty; integrity, governance and administration; educational offerings; and assessment of student learning. Chapter 10 concludes the study.

The assessment of student learning is the most significant addition to the requirements since Middle States last accredited Cornell in 2001. "It's a shift from 'Are we good teachers?' to 'Are our students learning?'" Clarkberg said. To meet the standard, the university has established learning goals for the entire university and for each undergraduate college and professional and graduate school.

The chapters close with recommendations for improvement, for which Middle States will hold Cornell accountable in five years.

The eight peer evaluators will visit campus March 27-30, 2011. They represent universities including Georgetown, Johns Hopkins and Princeton. The team's chair, Rebecca Bushnell, dean of the University of Pennsylvania's arts and sciences school, has already visited Cornell's executive MBA classes in New York City and will visit similar classes in Washington, D.C., as well as Cornell's joint master's program in hospitality management at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

While in Ithaca the team will meet with faculty, students and staff and write reports. On the last day, they will tell President David Skorton and Provost Kent Fuchs whether Middle States will reaccredit Cornell.

"People ask, 'Gosh, is there any chance that Cornell not be reaccredited?'" Clarkberg said. "The answer to that is, of course not, we will be reaccredited."

But there are various gradations. Middle States is likely to make some recommendations, on which Cornell must take action and report progress, she said.

"Assessment of student learning is something that we've moved on only fairly recently. ... I expect that they would want to make sure we've got sustained commitment in place," Clarkberg said.