In higher education, it’s tempting to view course evaluations primarily as a compliance task. Students complete surveys, results get archived, and summaries are pulled when an accreditor asks for evidence.
But the future of accreditation demands a more dynamic approach. As the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) revises its criteria and embeds student success into the core of its evaluation process, colleges and universities must move beyond basic compliance.
In our last article, we outlined critical preparation steps every accreditation-seeking school should take, but it is clear that the institutions that thrive will need to do more than prep! Successful schools will be those that treat course evaluations not as isolated snapshots, but as part of a continuous feedback loop—one that informs planning, supports retention, and cultivates a culture of learning and improvement.
The Shift: Accreditation as an Ongoing Process
The HLC’s updated Criteria for Accreditation, going into effect on September 1, 2025, emphasize this shift clearly. Criteria 4 and 5 now prioritize the ongoing use of data, disaggregated student feedback, and documented improvements tied to student outcomes (HLC Criteria).
This is not just a matter of presenting clean records during a review. Institutions must demonstrate that they are regularly analyzing, responding to, and acting on student input throughout the academic cycle.
“Institutions are expected to provide evidence of data-driven decision-making that results in meaningful improvement in student learning and success.”
— HLC, 2024 Criteria Guidance
Why Compliance-Only Approaches Fall Short
When institutions treat course evaluations as little more than a checkbox, they limit their ability to:
- Identify emerging trends in the student experience
- Connect feedback to institutional initiatives
- Show accreditors how data has driven real change
Many evaluation systems make this worse by providing static reports, limited analytics, or siloed access. This leaves valuable insights stuck in PDFs or spreadsheets that are reviewed too late, or not at all.
Under the new accreditation landscape, this passive approach no longer holds up. Accreditors increasingly expect living systems of evidence: tools, processes, and habits that reflect real-time responsiveness to student needs.
What a Feedback Culture Looks Like
Creating a feedback culture means embedding course evaluations into the institutional fabric, not just the assessment office.
Key characteristics include:
- High student participation, driven by mobile access and intuitive design
- Consistent mid-term and end-of-term surveys, with results shared promptly
- Faculty and department heads engaging with data, not just IR teams
- Linking student feedback to real actions, such as course redesigns, instructor coaching, or resource allocation
- Closing the loop, with students seeing how their voices led to change
In short, evaluations become part of how the institution listens, learns, and leads.
How This Supports Long-Term Accreditation Success
Even beyond the 2025 HLC revisions, a culture of actionable feedback provides insurance against future scrutiny.
Why?
Because accreditors are moving toward continuous engagement and longitudinal data analysis. As reaffirmation cycles shorten and expectations around student success intensify, institutions will need to:
- Show how feedback has led to iterative improvements over time
- Provide disaggregated datasets showing equity in instructional outcomes
- Demonstrate cross-functional collaboration, not just data collection
A well-designed evaluation strategy allows schools to present more than just metrics, it enables them to tell a cohesive story of growth, responsiveness, and improvement.
This is true not only for HLC institutions, but across major accreditors like SACSCOC, WSCUC, and MSCHE, all of which are emphasizing real-time use of evidence in decision-making (MSCHE Criteria, SACSCOC Resource Library).
How EvalSystem Supports Feedback Culture
At EvalSystem, we believe that course evaluations should be more than a formality. Our platform is designed to help institutions foster a culture of listening, action, and continuous improvement.
Here’s how:
1. Real-Time Dashboards for All Stakeholders
Department chairs, deans, faculty, and IR teams each get customized access to evaluation data. This democratizes insight and builds accountability across the institution.
2. AI-Powered Comment Analysis
Qualitative feedback is automatically clustered by theme and sentiment, making it easier to surface trends and identify emerging issues without hours of manual reading.
3. Disaggregated and Mid-Term Feedback
EvalSystem supports both end-of-term and mid-course evaluations, with disaggregation by modality, cohort, course, and instructor—perfect for surfacing disparities and guiding early intervention.
4. Documentation Logs and Audit Trails
To support future accreditation cycles, our platform tracks when actions were taken in response to feedback. These timestamped logs help IR and accreditation leads provide credible evidence of continuous improvement.
5. White-Glove Support
Our team works directly with institutions to map evaluation data to their specific accreditation framework. Whether you’re preparing Assurance Arguments or organizing for Canopy, we offer step-by-step support.
From One-Time Fixes to Ongoing Strategy
In a time of evolving accreditation standards, institutions face a choice:
- Treat course evaluations as a once-per-term obligation, or
- Use them as a foundation for better learning, better planning, and better institutional storytelling
The second option is not only better for students and faculty—it is better for accreditation readiness.
Let’s Build Something Better
Building a feedback culture takes the right mindset, the right people, and the right tools. EvalSystem is proud to partner with institutions across the country to make student voice central to academic excellence and accreditation success.