2015 Accreditation Institute

ACCREDITATION INSTITUTE
FEBRUARY 20-21, 2015
San Mateo Marriot

Friday, February 20, 2015

9:00 a.m. Continental Breakfast and Check-In

10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. General Session 1: Brief Welcome

Where Have We Been? Where Are We Going?
The history and future of accreditation and how accreditation has shaped the California Community College system will be presented.

11:15 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. Breakout Session 1

Accreditation 101: Accreditation and Peer Review in Higher Education
So this is your first accreditation institute? Learn about the accreditation process for community colleges and the federal basis for peer review across the country. If you are new to local accreditation on your campus, this is the breakout for you! We will provide an overview of the four standards that work together and reflect upon the institution’s competence to define and promote student success, academic quality, institutional integrity, and excellence. Beginning with the mission statement, and the degree to which student learning and support services actually help achieve the mission, this session will also review what human, physical, technology, and financial resources are required to demonstrate compliance.

Boards, Unions, and Other Considerations That You Will Get Dinged for That You Can’t Do Anything About
Sometimes a college does everything right in the development of a self-evaluation, but all of that good is undermined by factors outside the college’s (and the writing team’s) control: namely, unions and boards. How does a college respond when a board member proudly exclaims ignorance of Institutional Learning Outcomes? What to do when a union refuses to support a contract change mandated by the ACCJC? Join us as we discuss these and many other areas beyond our control.

Student Services, Libraries and Equity in the Online Arena
The ACCJC places a great deal of focus on the evaluation of a college’s distance education program, but one area that is too-often overlooked is the role played by student services. After all, distance education classes are designed to be equivalent to face-to-face classes in every way, and this extends to services students rely on for success, such as assessment, counseling, financial aid, disability services, orientation, and articulation. Join us as we explore the challenges and benefits of closely integrating distance education and student services in your college.

Preparing Your Campus for a Site Visit
You have spent years working on your self-evaluation report and now your visit is on the horizon. Does your campus already have accreditation fatigue? This breakout will focus on strategies to get your campus and faculty ready for the site visit.

12:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. General Session 2

Institutional Effectiveness – What Can the Chancellor’s Office Do for You?

The Chancellor’s Office has created a new division of Institutional Effectiveness to provide technical assistance to colleges in the areas of accreditation, fiscal viability, student performance and compliance with state and federal guidelines. The Foundation for California Community Colleges has also recently launched the California Student Success Center to strengthen, coordinate, and amplify the student success across the state. Find out how these two new programs together can help local colleges.

Lunch

2:15 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. Breakout Session 2

Distance Education: Regular Effective Contact
Distance education courses are under increased scrutiny for regular, effective contact as more courses are offered online. In addition, there are requirements for programs of study that may be offered through an online modality for a majority of the courses. How is distance education evaluated on your campus? What are the standards by which you evaluate the effectiveness of the modality? Join us for a discussion of all things D.E. in the context of accreditation.

Student Learning Outcomes and Continuous Quality Improvement
Student Learning Outcomes are expected to reach the continuous quality improvement level for current evaluation cycles. SLO Assessment results are supposed to factor into college planning and budgeting processes. Plus, the new standards expect the disaggregation of student learning outcomes assessments to be used in the context of equity and support. Join us as we discuss the current standards and how colleges can plan to meet the new standards.

Changing the Culture – Facilitating Campus Wide Involvement in the Self-Evaluation Process
This is a discussion breakout for those of you trying to figure out how to disseminate all the great information you have acquired about accreditation to the rest of your campus. How do you truly involve the institution in a continuous dialog pertinent to the self-evaluation process? Bring your ideas, what has or has not worked at your campus, and join us for a discussion.

Silver Linings: Thriving Through Sanctions
Has your school been told they are on sanctions? Do you expect that your school will be placed on sanctions soon? What does this mean? While getting through this experience is stressful and can be nerve-wracking and confusing, positive outcomes and experiences are possible. This panel and audience will participate in a discussion regarding what can be done to maximize your college’s potential for getting off sanctions, while at the same time reaping possible long-term benefits from the experience of living through sanctions.

 
3:45 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Breakout Session 3

Institutional Set Standards
The new standards for ACCJC reference Institutional Set Standards as benchmarks local colleges use to evaluate their effectiveness. Has your college had discussions about this? How involved are you in the identification and evaluation of these benchmarks. The Chancellor’s Office has set standards adopted by the Board of Governors in the fall of 2014. How might these standards assist local colleges with a wealth of readily available data? Join us for an informative breakout about setting standards and using data.

Human Resources, Professional Development and Employee Evaluation
The new standards have specific requirements for employee evaluation and SLO assessment as well as professional development standards. The ASCCC adopted a position, Fall 2014 Resolution 2.01, that defines this standard for the field. What is expected of colleges to meet the standard? How are the requirements for professional development useful to faculty and administrators working to continuously improve teaching and learning? We will review the ACCJC standards in human resources with special emphasis on staff development and peer evaluation including the appropriate incorporation of SLOs.

College Processes in the Context of Accreditation: An Opportunity for Equity
Good news! All the work your college recently accomplished in building your Student Success and Support Program Plan (SSSP) will pay off, not just for students, but for your continuing accreditation process. And did you know that your Student Equity Plans are equally as important? This breakout will have two strands. First, learn about the SSSP and Student equity Plans and their requirements—find out what they are, what they do, and what data they produce. Then, learn how to meaningfully use these new plans to fulfill Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges accreditation standards on equity and equitable services.

Accreditation Challenges in Multi-College Districts
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.

5:30 p.m. ASCCC Foundation hosting Critical Conversations

Saturday, February 21

8:30 a.m. – 9:45 a.m. Breakout Session 4

Accreditation 102: Sanctions, Two-Year Rules, Q&A time
So you already know the basics of accreditation. Welcome to level two! Let’s talk about sanctions, two-year rules, and anything else that may be burning a hole in the back of your brain!

Institutional Learning Outcomes
Do you know what your Institutional Learning Outcomes are? How do you measure success? Do they match the new ACCJC standards? Come learn what the new standards require for Institutional/ General Education Level Learning Outcomes and strategies to meet the standards.

What to Do When You Know You Don’t Meet the Standard
Let’s face it—most of our colleges have weak spots, and often those weak spots become vividly obvious every six years during the accreditation self-evaluation. So how should your college respond to unmet standards in your self-evaluation? How should they be addressed during the site-visit and beyond? Is it possible to turn a weakness into a strength by addressing the problem and implementing a positive solution? Come join us to explore these issues with a host of lessons learned and actions taken. P.S. Don’t lie.

Team Training – Views from Visiting Teams
What is it like to be on a visiting team? How are team members trained? How do you become a team member? Come learn from former visiting team members about their experience with training and site visits. Find out what they learned that might help your colleges through the accreditation process.

10:00 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. General Session 3: The Standards

Institutional Set Standards
The new ACCJC standards include the requirement for institutions to establish “institution-set standards” (I.B.3) for student achievement, as well assess the institution’s accomplishment of these standards. Also, the new accreditation prompt institutions to disaggregate learning outcome and achievement data (I.B.6) and to use that data to identify performance gaps and develop implementation strategies to mitigate them. How do these standards work together in the context of Eligibility Requirement 11 that calls for program specific standards of achievement? How can my district have meaningful dialogue on the effect of these standards on our local planning processes? We’ll examine that interplay between standards and eligibility requirement and show examples of effective implementation of these standards at several college districts around the state.

Overview of New Accreditation Standards – Integrity
The new standards have taken all the standards regarding integrity and rolled them up into one. But what does this mean for colleges? If districts are to act with “integrity” in regards to policies, actions, and communications, what exactly does that mean? What does it look like? How do we measure it? Walk through the Standard I.C with us as we offer up dos and don'ts to stay in compliance with this standard.

Closing Remarks