Please watch Teams for all communications, and please use Teams to work with your SPA team and get advice from other programs undertaking SPA. Many resources including this document, links to forms, video recordings of meetings/workshops will be stored here.
Deadline: Three key items are due to the Graduate School by May 11, 2026. You will submit these items using this link. Your college will have an earlier internal deadline so that they have time to review your draft submission and provide feedback before your final submission.
1. A signed letter confirming you have completed the program maintenance checklist. Please answer each question on the checklist individually, including specifying how you engaged stakeholders in the creation and dissemination of the report.
2. Copies of the document templates requested in the program maintenance checklist document.
3. Self-study narrative. The main narrative of the self-study should be roughly 15-25 pages, single-spaced, though we have seen good reports that are both shorter and longer than these guidelines. Please try to make the self-study self-contained by paginating it. As you describe characteristics about your program such as application, enrollment, retention, graduation, and placement statistics, include the data that backs up these characteristics in the narrative. Appendices with additional information (not included in the main narrative) are welcome.
A progress update will be due by December 15, 2025 using this link.
Please work with your college to determine if an external review will be conducted; if so, please let the Graduate School know at your earliest convenience. This information will be captured in a form due from your GAAD by August 1.
The most important aspect of the self-study is the final “Looking Forward” section. This section contains your self-identified priorities looking ahead to the next 5-10 years.
The earlier sections of the self-study will help you identify what these priorities might be. Several of the sections represent a continuous quality improvement cycle in which you define goals, describe what you’re doing to meet them, and then compare your actual data to your goals to see where you are meeting them. Any places where you are not meeting your goals represent possible goals/priorities looking forward. You may also have new goals if you have met your current ones. In some cases, you may not have existing goals. One outcome of this assessment might be defining goals moving forward.
As you work on the self-study, you may discover that different questions might help you better assess your program. Feel free to reach out to the Graduate School if you wish to propose modifying or replacing any of the questions. Likewise, some questions may not be relevant to your program. If something is not applicable, you do not need to provide a long response for that question. In the extreme, you can respond with simply “Not applicable.”
We are providing you with an assortment of data. There may be errors. Please review the data carefully and report any potential errors/omissions as soon as possible to Graduate School Data Specialist Dr. Ifeoma Iyioke. Use the most accurate data source available to you and maintain required confidentiality when reporting.
We may ask you to discuss some specific characteristics from your data in your self-studies. These would be provided to you by September 1.
Provide evidence (quantitative/qualitative/mixed) to support any claims. We recognize you do not have the resources to assess everything, but some assessment, especially for key findings, will strengthen the self-study. You can use your own data sources and collect additional evidence during your self-study. Please cite data sources so we know which sources are useful. Claims made without supporting evidence will carry less weight during review.

Instructions and Advice to Programs

2025-2026