Standards Committee: Standards Review & Updates
The Standards Committee conducts a review of the Standards for potential updates using a timeline as determined by committee and organizational leadership (typically every 4 - 5 years).
The committee reviews market and industry trends and ongoing questions from the membership, and uses that information to recommend changes to the Standards. A Standards revision is a significant investment of time and resources on the part of CSEA, our members schools, licensed vendors, and other constituents. Revisions are only made when determined necessary due to a significant and ongoing change in market or industry trends, continuous requests or questions from the membership, or other circumstances that warrant a long-term change. The committee/staff will consider updating training and educational components of the Standards before a revision is recommended.
The Standards revision process is as follows:
- The Standards Consultant keeps an ongoing list of questions from the membership and areas that may need to be revised.
- When it's time to conduct a review, the Executive Director sends an initial survey to the membership to ask for feedback about areas that are in need of edit or clarification.
- The Standards Consultant reviews the list of questions from the ongoing research and member survey to identify long-term trends, significant areas of clarification, or other significant issues. The list is culled down into topics, with common issues being highlighted. The Executive Director reviews the list for additional comments and observations.
- A subgroup of committee members is identified to work on the Standards review. The subgroup should be diverse and representative of the major subsets of the membership to the extent possible (see "What makes a good Standards Committee?" on the main SOP page).
- The subgroup discusses each issue that was identified and develops a recommendation about whether each item warrants a revision to the Standards.
- For the items identified as needing to be revised, the Standards Consultant and Executive Director draft possible edits, keeping in mind implications for data collection and survey implementation.
- Proposed edits are brought to the full Standards Committee for initial review and comment. Tweaks are made by staff based on committee feedback if needed.
- Proposed edits are brought to the Standards Advisory Group for review and comment. The primary purpose of this review is to make sure historical implications and original reasons for the Standards are considered.
- A draft is submitted to the Board of Directors for initial review and comment. Board concerns are shared with the subgroup as needed.
- Proposed edits are submitted to the membership for review. Members are provided with a form by which to provide comments.The subgroup reviews comments submitted by the membership, and staff makes additional adjustments as necessary.
- The draft is submitted to the full Standards Committee for final review and approval.
- The draft is submitted to the Board of Directors for final approval.
- The Executive Director then manages the communications about the changes to the membership, vendors, and the media.
- The Standards Consultant works with vendors that are licensed to use the Standards to ensure updates are made and complete the recertification process.