FAQ
One criterion for the existence of a profession is the existence of professional standards to guide and judge practice. Without standards there would be few if any criteria established that institutions and their programs and services could use to judge their quality. CAS was established to develop and promulgate the standards necessary to achieve educational excellence.
Because CAS is a consortium of professional organizations, there are no individual memberships available. The CAS Board of Directors is composed of representatives from member organizations, and each member association has one vote on CAS business. Organizational membership information is available from the CAS national office.
Because CAS is a consortium of professional organizations, there are no individual memberships available. The CAS Board of Directors is composed of representatives from member organizations, and each member association has one vote on CAS business. Organizational membership information is available from the CAS national office.
CAS membership dues have been maintained at a low annual fee since the Council’s inception in 1979. Consequently, CAS has come to rely upon sale of professional publications as its primary source of funding. As a non-profit organization, CAS can accept tax-exempt contributions from individuals as well as grants from philanthropic foundations.
Because CAS is a consortium of professional associations, each member association is responsible for providing its membership with information about the nature and availability of CAS standards. Most member associations include CAS-related presentations at their conventions. Several CAS officers and directors are available upon request to provide CAS workshops or programs sponsored by professional organizations. CAS-oriented programs have been offered at numerous national and international conferences in recent years.
Using CAS Standards & Guidelines
An outline of how to put the CAS standards to work is included in the Blue Book, and each functional area SAG has an introductory section that describes how to apply the SAG for self-study purposes. The SAG CD also contains a PowerPoint presentation and E-learning course to help train users. PowerPoint presentations are also available on the CAS website.
An outline of how to put the CAS standards to work is included in the Blue Book, and each functional area SAG has an introductory section that describes how to apply the SAG for self-study purposes. The SAG CD also contains a PowerPoint presentation and E-learning course to help train users. PowerPoint presentations are also available on the CAS website.
The time required to complete the self-study process varies greatly with size and complexity of institutions and programs. In most instances, it will take from 6 to 9 months to complete a comprehensive division or campus-wide self-study, while a single administrative unit functional area program self-study may well be completed in approximately 3 months. One of the major time-consuming factors of any self-study is the data collection process in which documentary evidence is obtained and organized into a usable format. More time will be required if the documentary evidence has not already been collected and analyzed.
APA format citation for the Blue Book (subsections should follow the citation format for chapters in a book):
This important question has been studied through a comprehensive, CAS sponsored nation-wide research project. Results, including publication citation, are included in Part I of the CAS Blue Book. A bibliography of articles is also available on the website.
This important question has been studied through a comprehensive, CAS sponsored nation-wide research project. Results, including publication citation, are included in Part I of the CAS Blue Book. A bibliography of articles is also available on the website.
Each CAS standard is organized into 14 parts. These individual program components can be used on stand-alone bases for program self-studies or for program development purposes. That is, a partial self-study using selected components may be desirable for some programs to consider. Likewise, each component has utility for staff development purposes. One recommended training approach is to hold a series of training sessions in which individual parts are examined in detail. It should be understood, however, that a full program assessment cannot be accomplished using less than the complete functional area standard, and a functional area cannot be considered to be in compliance with CAS standards if all the component parts are not evaluated.
Institutions undergoing accreditation self-studies will find the CAS standards most useful. Because CAS functional area standards are invariably more comprehensive than regional accreditation criteria, a self-study using the CAS standards will provide ample documentation that can be used as evidence of compliance with accreditation criteria.
Benefits of Using CAS Standards
The CAS standards are multi-purpose in nature. They can be used to study and evaluate institutional divisions of student affairs and the various functional student support areas common across institutions. Likewise, they can be used for professional development purposes to ensure that staff members comprehend their roles and functions and develop the level of knowledge and skill essential for good practice. Also, the CAS standards can be used to guide the development of new or enhanced functional areas designed to provide students with additional learning and development opportunities.
The CAS standards were developed and adopted by knowledgeable representatives from a wide range of higher education organizations. They represent a profession-wide perspective about what constitutes good practice.
CAS Standards are provided primarily for institutions to use within the context of a “self-regulation†process. That is, although compliance with the standards evidences “good practice†that is recognized profession-wide, there are no external sanctions for non-compliance. However, institutions that do not meet the CAS standards will likely discover that their programs and services fail to function effectively or to meet the needs of their students. Further, institutions that evidence compliance with the CAS standards are virtually assured of receiving “high grades†from regional or specialized accrediting bodies.
Several professional associations have established standards for their constituent members, some of which are quite comparable to CAS standards. In general, CAS standards are designed to be used in every type and size of higher educational institution and were created for this broad user base. A primary benefit of the CAS standards is the fact that CAS represents a profession-wide effort to develop, promulgate, and encourage use of its professional standards. Consequently, the professional credibility of the CAS Standards and Guidelines tends to exceed those proffered by a single organization. If an institution or division uses the CAS standards to study more than one functional area, use of CAS ensures that the areas to be examined and the criteria will be consistent across areas.
The CAS standards were developed and adopted by knowledgeable representatives from a wide range of higher education organizations. They represent a profession-wide perspective about what constitutes good practice.
CAS Standards & Guidelines
As of July 2009, CAS had developed 39 sets of functional area standards and guidelines and one set of student affairs master’s level preparation standards. They are listed in the Standards section on the website.
As of July 2009, CAS had developed 39 sets of functional area standards and guidelines and one set of student affairs master’s level preparation standards. They are listed in the Standards section on the website.
A CAS standard, which is printed in BOLD type, is considered to be essential to successful professional practice and uses the auxiliary verbs “must†and “shall.†Compliance with the CAS standards indicates that a program meets essential criteria as described in each standard statement and that there is tangible evidence available to support that fact. A CAS guideline, printed in light-face type, is a statement that clarifies or amplifies a CAS standard. Although not required for achieving compliance, CAS guidelines are designed to offer suggestions and illustrations that can assist programs and services to more fully address the learning and development needs of students. CAS guidelines use the auxiliary verbs “should†and “may.â€
CAS policy calls for every functional area standard to be reviewed periodically on a 5-year basis for purposes of determining whether a revision is needed. Individuals or organizations who believe a given standard is in need of revision are invited to contact CAS to make such recommendations.
FALDOs are Frameworks for Assessing Learning and Development Outcomes. They are intended as guides for practitioners who wish to measure selective college student learning outcomes as specified in the General Standards of CAS. Sixteen learning and development outcome domains are identified by CAS and there is one FALDO for each domain. All FALDOs are structured to include an introduction, theoretical context for learning and development, relevant variables, assessment examples, available instruments, related web sites, references, and recommended reading.
The FALDOs were written by Terrell L. Strayhorn in close consultation with two consulting editors, long-time scholars of college student development Don G. Creamer and Ted K. Miller, following careful literature research to illuminate the underlying theoretical constructs of each learning and development domain and discovery of existing measurement instruments. Drafts were approved by the consulting editors, and then were forwarded to an advisory committee composed of association representatives within the CAS membership. All suggestions of Advisory Committee members were considered by the author and consulting editors and revisions were made where indicated. When all FALDOs were complete using this process, the entire collection was submitted to the CAS Executive Committee for their input and suggestions. Jan Arminio, then President of CAS, undertook a special role of final editing in conjunction with the principal author, Terrell Strayhorn. First publication of the entire set of FALDOs occurred in summer 2006.
Standards and Guidelines pertain to functional areas of educational service in higher education. Standards are agreed upon conditions of educational service that must be provided to achieve the highest level of service to students. Guidelines are recommended enhancements to the standards that should be included in all services to students, but are not required to meet minimal benchmarks. The Self-Assessment Guides (SAGs) are aids to practitioners in determining whether, and to what extent, standards and guidelines are met. They offer a step-by-step process for conducting such investigations.
Any educational measurement activity might make use of the FALDOs to achieve more precise indicators of student learning and development, but the most common uses include enhancement of student learning, sharing findings with faculty members for inclusion in curriculum development or revision, sharing findings with student affairs professionals for use in program design or enhancement, research, and administrative decision making. Some faculty members in graduate preparation programs use FALDOs as a supplemental textbook for courses on learning assessment, research methods, and even program evaluation.
Obtaining CAS Products
CAS publishes two versions of its standards, one in text format and another in workbook format. CAS Professional Standards for Higher Education (2009, sometimes known as the “CAS Blue Bookâ€) provides an introduction to CAS, its mission, initiatives, and the principles upon which it was founded. Individual functional area standards accompanied by introductory contextual statements are included, along with the CAS Learning and Development Outcomes, the CAS Characteristics of Individual Excellence, and the CAS Statement of Shared Ethical Principles. In addition, for use in programmatic self-studies, there is a CAS Self-Assessment Guide (SAG) for each set of standards. These assessment workbooks include the standards and guidelines along with a series of “criterion measure†statements used to judge the level of program compliance with the standard. The CAS SAGs are available electronically via the CAS web site and also in CD-ROM format.
See CAS Online Store for purchasing these materials.
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All available CAS publications, along with current costs and payment options, are listed on the CAS Online Store. They may also be purchased from the CAS national office, One Dupont Circle, NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20036-1188. Current publications include the CAS Professional Standards and the SAGs, and packaged sets are available. The FALDOs are available at press time; however, stock is limited.
Miscellaneous Questions
CAS does not function as a certification or accreditation agency. Rather, CAS encourages institutions and their functional area programs to follow a "self-regulation" approach wherein program evaluation self-studies are implemented for internal assessment purposes.
The CAS national office can provide information about CAS officers and board members who are well qualified to provide staff development training workshops and programs for institutions, or to consult about use of the CAS materials.
The areas for which CAS publishes standards represent functions on campuses; in some cases, these are commonly organized in departments or offices (e.g., housing and residential life, counseling), but in other cases, the function may be distributed across multiple offices or only one part of a department’s total scope (e.g., assessment services, internships). The term “functional area†is used as an inclusive term to encompass the wide range of functions on campus.