Transcript Slide 1

Accreditation 101
Julie Bruno, Sierra College
Glenn Yoshida, Los Angeles Southwest College
Roberta Eisel, Citrus College, facilitator
Susan Clifford, ACCJC, resource
Academic Senate for California Community Colleges
Accreditation Institute
February 10, 2012
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Accreditation 101:
Purpose

provide an overview of the ACCJC Accreditation
Standards and a global understanding of the
accreditation process
Outcome

increased comfort in helping your college
successfully meet the standards and provide the
best possible education for your students.
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What is Accreditation?
Accreditation is the process for
evaluating and assuring the quality
of education used by the American
higher education community.
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Accreditation
Accrediting Commission for Community
and Junior Colleges, (ACCJC)
Western Association of Schools and Colleges
(WASC)
2002 Standards
2011 Updates
and coming soon … 2012 review of Standards
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Which of the following is true of
accreditation?
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
It compares colleges to best practices in
education.
It punishes colleges based upon audits.
It grades and ranks colleges based on
standards.
It is a means of monitoring colleges.
It guarantees the quality of education to the
federal government and the public.
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Who participates in
accreditation processes?
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
Faculty
Administration
Classified Staff
Students
All of the above
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What role do faculty play in the
accreditation report?
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
Representation on committees
Writing the report
Validating the accuracy of the report to
the student perspective
Meeting with Accreditation team
visitors
All of the above
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How many California community colleges
are currently on some form of sanction,
as of January 2011?
A.
None
B.
5-6 colleges
C.
10 colleges
D.
21 colleges
E.
32 colleges
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Reasons colleges have been placed on
sanction as of January 2011
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Program review problems (4 )
Planning using assessment results (15 )
Board roles and responsibilities ( 14)
Internal governance issues (5 )
Financial management or stability ( 13)
(Source: ACCJC News, Summer 2011)
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Deficiencies Causing Sanctions
(Source: ACCJC News, Summer 2011)
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Accreditation is a voluntary system of self
regulation developed to evaluate overall educational
quality and institutional effectiveness
and assures…
 the public that accredited colleges meet the
standards
 education earned is of value to the student
 employers, trade or profession-related
licensing agencies, and other colleges and
universities can accept a student’s
credentials as legitimate
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ACCJC assures the educational community, the
general public, and other organizations and
agencies that an institution…

has clearly defined objectives appropriate to higher
education

has established conditions under which their
achievement can reasonably be expected
appears in fact to be accomplishing them
substantially


is so organized, staffed, and supported that it can be
expected to continue to do so; and demonstrates that
it meets Accreditation Standards
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Accreditation
Standards
Standard I: Institutional Mission and
Effectiveness
Standard II: Student Learning Programs
and Services
A. Instruction
B. Student Services
C. Library
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Accreditation Standards
Standard III: Resources
Human, fiscal, physical, technology
Standard IV: Leadership and
Governance
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Accreditation Themes
Institutional commitments
Evaluation planning and improvement
Student learning outcomes
Organization
Dialogue
Institutional integrity
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Processes – what we do across
the standards
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Program Review
Planning
Resource Allocation
Decision-Making
Assessment
Evaluation of the process
Improvement
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Fast forward from 2002 to 2011..
From self study and planning agendas
to
Self evaluation and actionable
improvement plans
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New ACCJC Manuals

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Manual for Institutional Self Evaluation
Team Evaluator Manual
Substantive Change Manual
Guide to Evaluating Institutions
Colleges with comprehensive visits in fall 2012 and
beyond are required to use the new manuals.
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Tools for colleges
MANUAL FOR
INSTITUTIONAL
SELF EVALUATION
Assessing Educational Quality and
Institutional Effectiveness
June 2011
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The manual addresses..
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Institutional commitments
Accreditation standards and rubrics
The self evaluation process
Self evaluation report for educational quality
and institutional effectiveness
The site visit
External evaluation report and commission
decision
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2011: Self Evaluation
 Your college will conduct an Educational
Quality and Institutional Effectiveness
Review.
Institutional Self Evaluation Report

a written analysis of strengths and
weaknesses of educational quality and
institutional effectiveness based on the
institution’s continuous evaluation and
quality improvement activities which have
been considered in the self evaluation
process
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Structure of the analysis of each of
the Standards


Descriptive summary
Self evaluation
– analyze and systematically evaluate its
performance against the Accreditation
Standards and its institutional mission.

Actionable improvement plans
– integrated into the institution’s continuous
evaluation and planning processes.
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Provide evidence of..
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Student achievement
Student learning outcomes and assessment
Quality program review
Quality of student support services
Financial performance and integrity
Evidence of compliance with other areas
related to federal requirements*
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Colleges and visiting teams are to
use…
Guide to Evaluating Institutions
* “Implementation of New U.S.D.E.
Regulations” (see also ACCJC Fall 2011
Newsletter)
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So then,
when accreditation works well..
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Every constituency is involved
The college does a rigorous and honest self
evaluation
Courses and programs are reviewed for
usefulness and currency
Student pathways are reviewed
Budgeting, planning, and revenue allocation
processes are examined
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Who makes all this happen?

Existing committees and processes
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Curriculum
SLO and assessment
Program review
Research
Planning
Departments and divisions
Governance processes (Senate!)
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Resources
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Goodies in your ebinder
www.accjc.org
www.asccc.org
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Comments? Questions?
Best wishes as you help lead your college in
this critical and valuable process!
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