1. Cultural Competency & NASPAA Accreditation
Presented by: Crystal Calarusse, Chief Accreditation Officer
Data Analysis by: Heather Hamilton, Director of Assessment
ASPA Conference | September 2017

2. NASPAA The global standard in public service education
Global accreditor of MPA, MPP, similar programs
CHEA-recognized
197 accredited programs
Analysts, Managers, Directors, not politicians

3. Three generations of NASPAA Standards
First generation: Inputs and resources
Non-discrimination and EEOC
Second generation: Mission Based Accreditation
Supportive environment and positive action
Third generation: Public Service Values and Competencies
Strategic management for diversity and cultural competence

4. What do NASPAA Standards say about cultural competency?
As the basis for its curriculum, the program will adopt a set of required competencies related to its mission and public service values. The required competencies will include five domains: the ability …
to communicate and interact productively with a diverse and changing workforce and citizenry.

5. How are programs defining cultural competency?
Programs articulate competency in terms of:
communication (oral/written skills vs. teamwork)
laws and policies (knowledge of legal system vs. stakeholder impact)
Diversity (understanding of importance vs. cultural competence)
95% of programs doing something
As of 2013?

6. Cultural competency thresholds?
What do programs need to show to demonstrate cultural competency of students?
Direct evidence of learning
Feedback loops
Connection to mission and values
I moved this slide to after the JPAE slide, because I thought the competency definitions should be adjacent to the Standard language. Then you can talk about how programs show conformance? And that leads to, do alumni feel competent?

7. Are alumni culturally competent?
To communicate and interact productively with a diverse and changing workforce and citizenry
To lead and manage in public governance
To participate in and contribute to the public policy process
To analyze, synthesize, think critically, solve problems and make decisions
To articulate and apply a public service perspective
Very Prepared
728
46%
464
29%
547
35%
903
57%
781
50%
Prepared
735
47%
941
60%
884
56%
623
40%
702
45%
Unprepared 92 6%
149 9%
118 8% 40 3% 70 4%
Very Unprepared 12 1% 19 9
Total
1567
1573
1568
1575
1565

8. Climate of Inclusiveness
The program will promote diversity and a climate of inclusiveness through its…
recruitment and retention of faculty members (3.2).
recruitment, admissions practices, and student support services (4.4).

9. Diversity Conformance Threshold
The Commission seeks substantial evidence regarding programmatic efforts to promote diversity and a climate of inclusiveness, specifically demonstrable evidence of good practice, a framework for evaluating diversity efforts, and the connection to the program’s mission and objectives.

10. Does it make a difference?
 Full-time Faculty*
2016
2007
Percent Change
White
80.83%
858
81.10%
0.26%
Black/ African American
144
7.20% 83
7.84%
0.64%
Asian
153
7.65% 75
7.09%
-0.56%
Hispanic/ Latino 78
3.90% 35
3.31%
-0.59%
American Indian
8.125
0.41% 7
0.66%
Total
1999
1058
*includes potential double counting
Chronicle data says 75% white for 4 year colleges.
70% white for adjunct pool at NASPAA.

11. How are programs doing? Student Diversity Comparison
CGS data from 2015=62.1% white
CGS Data from 2015 PA Only = 51% white (12617/27702) and 60% female (16699/27702)
CGS data from 2015=54.6% white (PA and Social Work)
Nick data: The Diversity Report 2013 has an N = 9,589 students from 150 NASPAA accredited programs. They include data from Self-Study Reports from The students were defined as “registered” students of the specific year. The most recent years of data for students are defined as “registered.” Student data from during the old standards had students split into different categories. These categories included “applicant,” “registered” and “active.” The category “registered” was used for the sake of continuity, while “applicant” and “active” were not used for representation of a single program’s single year of student body. The entire sample found that after thirteen years, the number of Minority students had increased to 49%, with Whites at 51%.

12. Added Complexity: Global Accreditation
NASPAA has accredited programs in:
China, Egypt, New Zealand, South Korea, US, Venezuela
Additional special contexts (Hawai’i, Puerto Rico, etc.)
Additional programs in process:
Brazil, China, Colombia, France, Guam, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Thailand, US

13. Global dimensions of diversity
U.S. parameters to describe diversity: race, gender, disability
New options to describe diversity in global context:
Place of origin (domestic)
Career Background
Educational Background
Place of origin (international)
Political Affiliation
Ethnic Minority
Religion
Socio-economic Status
Other (specify)

14. Public Service Values Global public service values
Accountability
Fairness
Ethics
Professionalism
Cultural or contextual values
Democratization and participation
Social Justice
Public Trust
Social Responsibility

15. NASPAA Resources Diversity best practice page
Specific diversity standards hub
Peer examples
Conference workshops

16. copra@naspaa.org Accreditation.naspaa.org
Questions?
Accreditation.naspaa.org