Accreditation Challenges in Multi-College Districts

ASCCC Accreditation InstituteFriday, February 20, 2015, 3:45 pm - 5:00 pm

Bill Scroggins, President, Mt. San Antonio CollegeJohn Stanskas, ASCCC Secretary

Danny Martino, Santiago Canyon College

Breakout Description

• Colleges in multi-college districts are migrating to a place where all colleges in the district are undergoing peer review accreditation in the same cycle.  This can require a coordination of time, energy, and resources across a district.  There may be special challenges to the coordination of standards that involve district processes as distinct from local college processes.  And remember, the college is accredited not the district; thus any deficiencies in district processes will reflect in the college report.  How can colleges and districts work together to best coordinate their efforts to improve systems and have successful evaluations?  Join us for a lively discussion.  

Who Are you?

● Administrators?● Senate Presidents?● Accreditation Team Members?

● What is your Senate Governance Model in your MC Districts?

● What are your concerns to address here?

Recent Sanctions for Districts● Several common reasons colleges get sanctions● District-College Relations● College related vs. District operations related sanctions

● Detailed Summary of ACCJC Actions – handout● What to do?

● Senate needs to be involved along the way with District● 10+1: Faculty role in Accreditation

● Senate should have a formal position of the faculty’s role● Evaluate the faculty role in accreditation in each cycle● Have policies & procedures in place before preparing the Self-

Eval● Faculty should be on every standard

● Senate appoint appropriate person● Reporting should go back to Senate throughout process

New: Standard IV, A6

The processes for decision-making and the resulting decisions are documented and widely communicated across

the institution.

New: Standard IV, B4

The CEO has the primary leadership role for accreditation, ensuring that

the institution meets or exceeds Eligibility Requirements,

Accreditation Standards, and Commission policies at all times. Faculty, staff, and administrative

leaders of the institution also have responsibility for assuring

compliance with accreditation requirements.

New: Standard IV, C6The institution or the governing board publishes the board

bylaws and policies specifying the board’s size, duties, responsibilities, structure, and operating procedures.

• CCLC is a good source for policies• The Boards need to evaluate policies• Boards should identify gaps in their duties• Be aware that Boards don’t micromanage beyond what their own policies say• Board is required to do a self-eval• Policies should be more specific about how Chancellor is hired and evaluated• Some Boards will identify the standard on agenda items that relate to specific ones.

New: Standard IV, C8

New: Standard IV, C8To ensure the institution is accomplishing its goals for student

success, the governing board regularly reviews key indicators of student learning and achievement and institutional plans for

improving academic quality.

• Title 5 requires that scorecard data are presented and reviewed• Districts need to have goals

Achievements beyond the standards• SLO’s are showing up in recommendations from Commission

New: Standard IV, D5District/system planning and evaluation are integrated with college planning and evaluation to improve student learning

and achievement and institutional effectiveness.

• Delineation Function Maps are needed to meet the standard• Gives the faculty some power to the delineation of functions

Senate & Districts● How does your local Senate fit into District Governance

models?● How do your multiple Senates come together?● What about when Senates disagree?● How do you coordinate your voices?● With new Standards a coherent faculty voice will be

needed

Delineation Function Maps

● District vs. College needs and uses● Table format● Administrative Unit● Diagram Form

● Functions maps are a working tool that let’s us know what is District vs. College Responsibility

● 3 examples (handouts):1. By structure2. By unit3. By accreditation standard

Common HR Issues in Accreditation• Districts should regularly evaluate staff• Evaluations not done in a timely manner• Processes are not followed• Faculty evaluation process not followed or updated• HR polices need to also be evaluated• Inconsistent evaluation processes

Evaluating Institution Guide

●From ACCJC:Policy and Procedures for the Evaluation of Institutions in

Multi-College/Multi-Unit Districts or Systems

http://www.accjc.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Policy-and-Procedures-for-Evaluation-in-Multi-College-Districts-or-Systems_First-Reading-January-2014.pdf

● All campuses report District Challenges● College-to-District issues could be different for each

campus, and need coordination.● As colleges sync, some will need to do an abbreviated

self-study

● Questions

Coordinating Multi-College Challenges