Commend Commission for Changes and Extend Time for Further Dialogue

Spring
2002
Resolution Number
02.01
 
Contact
Assigned to
Unassigned
Category
Accreditation
Status
Completed
Status Report

Recommendationsappear in forthcoming paper on accreditation. Will be completed Fall 2004

Whereas, The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) has revised its proposed draft standards (from Draft A to Draft B) to address, in part, the concerns raised by the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges, as well as concerns expressed by other California faculty organizations, the American Association of University Professors, the Research and Planning Group, the Chief Executive Officers, and many other groups and individuals;

Whereas, ACCJC has revamped the proposed "Leadership and Vested Authority" standard in Draft A into a "Leadership and Governance" standard in Draft B (See Appendix A), and has reincorporated reference to academic senates, as well as to faculty having "substantive voice" in college governance;

Whereas, Draft B (like Draft A) makes having a "systematic cycle of evaluation, integrated planning, implementation and re-evaluation" based solely on the measurement of student outcomes the central feature of accreditation and requires that all parts of the institution (including governance, student services and instruction, and faculty) be evaluated by measuring the degree that each improves student learning outcomes, thus effecting a fundamental shift in the role of accreditation; and

Whereas, The ACCJC has shown that interaction with the larger educational community led to improvements in the standards, but to date there has been only one public hearing in California, and the timeline remains too short to permit further fruitful dialogue;

Resolved, That the Academic Senate commend the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges for being responsive to concerns of the Academic Senate and other members of the educational community in revising the drafts of new standards;

Resolved, That the Academic Senate reiterate its request that the Accrediting Commission extend the time for consideration and adoption of the new standards beyond June 2002, hold more public hearings in California, and engage in more extended dialogue with the Academic Senate and the larger educational community; and

Resolved, That the Academic Senate reaffirm Resolution2.05 F01 and continue to actively investigate alternatives to the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) accreditation if ACCJC fails to extend the deadline beyond June 2002 for consideration and adoption of the new standards and if the ACCJC does not reconsider its commitment to making the continuous evaluation of "measurable student learning outcomes" the central basis of accreditation.