Dr. NAACLS – Admin changes and annual survey

Dear Dr NAACLS:

Our program had some administrative changes a year ago. I included this change on our annual survey last year, but NAACLS still has the old administrative changes in its records. How do I get that changed?

Sincerely,
Confused Program Director

Dear Confused:

It’s Spring. The snow is melting, the flowers are budding and it’s time for the NAACLS annual survey again! Each year, NAACLS sends out the annual survey in conjunction with ASCP to review the demographic profile of the students and graduates and assess various other topics. And each year, there are numerous questions about the survey!

The survey, for various reasons, is not tied into the NAACLS database of program information. Information is pulled from the database to gather the information to send the surveys, but the information from the survey is not fed back into the database; it is kept separate. What this means is that the contact information that you provide in the survey does not make it back to the database. The natural question is, “Why, then, do you ask that contact information on the survey?”

When the survey is being filled out, that contact information is already listed, or “pre-populated” in the lingo, per the information in our database. If it is incorrect, that is meant to alert you that NAACLS has incorrect information, so that you can take further action to correct it. In short, it is on the survey as a reminder.

In the case of a change of dean or president, or even contact information such as address or email, a simple email to your program coordinator is sufficient to get that changed. If the change is more substantial, such as a new program director, that email will alert the program coordinator to begin a larger process which will lead to those changes being implemented. In any case, the first step is an email to your program coordinator!

In the future, the NAACLS survey will be connected with the database, and it will be a much simpler process to change such information. That is a major initiative that the hardworking staff at NAACLS is attempting to implement. While it seems a simple task, the underlying processes and procedures are dauntingly complex, and this is a few years away. In the meantime, the process to get this information changed starts with contacting your program coordinator. These April showers will eventually bring May flowers!

Sincerely,
Dr. NAACLS