2013 Accreditation Site Visit

Details

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About Accreditation

Accreditation is a non-governmental, peer-driven process. The federal Department of Education has certified WASC (Western Association of Schools and Colleges) and the ACCJC (Accrediting Commission of Community and Junior Colleges) as legitimate accreditors. IVC pays dues to ACCJC to voluntarily participate in the accreditation process.

Accreditation occurs on a six-year cycle. Through accreditation, an institution demonstrates that it is of high quality, and the public is assured that the institution is doing a professional job of helping students learn and achieve their educational goals. Our eligibility for financial aid and federal funds also hinges on our good standing as accredited.

Over the past three years, Imperial Valley College has worked to embed the goals of accreditation into the life of the college. To certify those efforts, a team of administrators and faculty from our region will analyze our Institutional Self-Evaluation Report and then visit us during the week of March 11-14 (Monday - Thursday). To read the complete report, go to: 2012 Institutional Self-Evaluation Report

What is the Accreditation Process?

Who are the teammembers?

The volunteer team consists of a team chair, a team assistant, and administrators and faculty from other community colleges in our region of the ACCJC, which includes California, Hawaii, and the Pacific Islands.

What training does the team have?

The ACCJC assembles and trains the visiting team several weeks prior to the site visit. Most team members also have participated in other site visits at community and junior colleges in the region.

What are the team's responsibilities?

Prior to arriving for the site visit, team members analyze the 2012 Imperial Valley College Institutional Self-Evaluation Report and write their preliminary findings.

The team uses guide questions and a rubric about the four broad accreditation standards to judge whether or not IVC has appropriately met the standards or has actionable improvement plans in place to do so.

Once on campus for the site visit, the team members conduct interviews and review additional evidence as necessary. They may also choose to attend any standing committee meetings, attend open forums, and visit classes. Following their interviews, evidence review, and other interactions, the team members write evaluations on their assigned standards. As a team, the members work to formulate recommendations (which are deficiencies in meeting accreditation standards). As a final act, team members sign off on their confidential recommendation to the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges.

What are the Accreditation Standards?

  • Standard I: Does IVC provide the means for students to learn, assess how well learning is occurring, and strive to improve learning through continuous, systematic, and integrated planning?
  • Standard II: Do instructional programs, student support services, and library and learning support services facilitate the achievement of IVC's stated student learning outcomes?
  • Standard III: Are physical, human, technological, and financial resources adequately managed and maintained to support the mission of the college?
  • Standard IV: Does ethical and effective leadership guide the college to fulfill its mission and support institutional effectiveness and improvement?

What Should I Know?

Depending on your responsibilities, one or more team members may want to meet with you.

Team members may attend any standing committee meeting and interview you there. One or more team members may visit your workstation, including a class you are teaching or a student services interaction with a student.

You may be asked to provide additional evidence. If you are asked for additional evidence, please let Linda Amidon (ext. 6215) in the Instruction Office know so that we can record the request, obtain the evidence, and integrate the evidence into the electronic document file as needed.

Can I meet with the site visitors?

All staff, faculty, and students are invited to a Meet and Greet for the team on Monday, March 11, 2013 at 1:00 p.m. in the College Center.

Two college Forums will be open to all staff and you are encouraged to attend and participate. Forum 1 is Tuesday, March 5, from 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. in Room 2734. Forum 2 is Thursday, March 7, from 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. (Forum 2 has been canceled).

A formal Exit Interview, where the chair of the Site Visit Team will present an overview of the team's findings, will take place on Thursday March 14, 2013 at 11:00 a.m. in Room 2734.

What Should I Expect From the Visit?

When will the team visit?

The site visit team will be on campus Monday - Thursday, March 11-14, 2013.

What recommendations might the site visit team make?

The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges has eight possible actions for accredited institutions:

  1. Reaffirm Accreditation
  2. Reaffirm Accreditation with a Progress Report
  3. Reaffirm Accreditation with a Progress Report and Visit
  4. Defer Action on Accreditation
  5. Issue a Warning to Correct Deficiencies
  6. Impose Probation
  7. Order Show Cause
  8. Terminate Accreditation

All but Reaffirm Accreditation require a deadline or date by which the action will take place, and the site visit team must state its rationale for assigning the recommendation.

Are the team's recommendations and determination final?

No. The ACCJC itself makes the final determination after reviewing the visiting team's report. In our case, this will take place after its June, 2013 meeting.

Who is on the Site Visit Team?

Dr. Susan Clifford, Chair

Vice President of Commission Operations (ACCJC)

Mr. Randall Lawrence, Chair

President (College of the Siskiyous)

Ms. Kristy Anderson (Assistant)

Director of Planning, Assessment and Research and Accreditation Liaison Officer (College of the Siskiyous)

Ms. Stephanie Brasley

Dean, Academic Affairs (Los Angeles Southwest College)

Ms. Irene Graff

Director, Institutional Research (El Camino College)

Dr. Lui Hokoana

Associate Vice President for Student Affairs (University of Hawaii System)

Ms. Sandee McLaughlin

Executive Dean (Cuesta College/North County Campus)

Mr. Mario Tejada, Jr.

Faculty, Chair of Distance Education (Diablo Valley College/San Ramon Valley Campus)

Mr. Scott Thomason

Vice President, Administration and Technology (College of the Siskiyous)

Action Plans

The following chart presents a summary view of the actionable improvement plans contained in this Reaffirmation of Accreditation Self-Evaluation Report together with the Standards for reference:

Standard

Action Plan

Responsibility

II.A.1.b

The DE Committee, in coordination with the appropriate academic deans and the Office of Instruction, will establish criteria for a course's eligibility to be offered online by April of 2013 so that program-related classes can be again offered online in the fall of 2013.

DE Coordinator, DE Committee, Instructional Deans, CIO

II.A.1.c

The SLO Coordinator will work in conjunction with the Vice President for Academic Services and Instructional Technology to create an efficient repository for storing course-level SLO assessment forms, as well as program-level SLOs by the end of the 2012-2013 academic year.

SLO Coordinator, SLO Committee, CIO

II.A.2.f

The college will continue to integrate the assessment of SLOs and PLOs into its Comprehensive Program Review.  No additional planning measures are needed at this time.

SLO Coordinator

II.A.2.i

The SLO coordinator will continue to work with all campus constituencies to develop a specific plan for the assessment of PLOs.

All PLOs for programs, degrees, and certificates are to be written by the end of November 2012.  Programs will be assessing all of these PLOs by the end of the 2012-2013 academic year.  These PLOs, once written, will be put into CurricUNET by the end of the 2012-2013 academic year, and listed in the online catalog for the 2013-2014 academic year.

SLO Coordinator, SLO Committee

II.A.6

Chairs and lead faculty will add PLOs for all programs in CurricUNET, and these modifications will be approved by the Curriculum Committee, the Academic Senate, and the Board of Trustees in time to be included in the 2012-2013 General College Catalog.

Instructional Chairs and Coordinators

II.A.6.c

The Vice President for Information Technology will work through the Technology Planning Committee to continue to update the college website and to clarify roles and procedures for updating and maintaining the site.  The Marketing Committee's role and membership will be discussed and revised by the end of the 2012-2013 academic year.

CTO

II.B.3.f

Imperial Valley College's office of Admissions and Records will continue to transition its archived documents into its imaging system and anticipates that all documents will eventually be imaged at the time received.  During this transition period, the Admissions and Records office and the Instruction office will continue to hold appropriate archived student records in hard copy for the period required by law.

Director of A&R

III.A.5.a

In order to ensure that the needs of all personnel are met, the college will review the recently implemented college hour, assess the current reassigned time for faculty coordinators of Professional Development activities, conduct staff surveys related to professional development needs.

CHRO, Staff Development Committee

III.B

Maintenance Department and Safety and Security Department personnel will conduct regular safety inspections of facilities and grounds to ensure a safe learning and working environment on campus.  The college will continue to rely on input and expertise from our local agencies (Imperial County Fire Department, Imperial County Health Department, Regional Water Board, etc.) to ensure full compliance with all health and safety regulations.  The college will also continue building on our relationship with the American Red Cross.

Director of Maintenance and Director of Security

III.B.2.a

The college will be improving the process of projecting the cost of ownership when planning for new construction.  All new construction and modernization projects will have a cost of ownership budget developed during the planning phase of each project.

CBO

III.C.2

By June 2013, the college will develop a plan to assess the effective use of technology on campus by faculty, staff, and students.

CTO,  Technology Committee

III.D.1.a

The successful development and implementation of recommendations from the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assessment Team (FCMAT) will ensure that the college will have sufficient funding to support educational programs that support a smaller student population.  The college has created a Strategic Transition Action Response Team (START) to act as a recommending body to the Board of Trustees and the Superintendent/President and to facilitate the transition from recommendations to implementation.

CBO, START Team, Budget and Fiscal Planning Committee

III.D.1.b

The Budget and Fiscal Planning Committee has begun discussion regarding the appropriate reserve level based on the specific needs of the college.  It is anticipated that the committee will make a recommendation on the minimum reserve amount by June 2013.

Budget and Fiscal Planning Committee, CBO

IIID.2.e

The college will continue to implement the recommendations of the FCMAT Management Review. 

START Team, Budget and Fiscal Planning, CBO

III.D.3.a

The college is working with FCMAT (Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team) on a fiscal review which will be presented to the Board of Trustees in December 2012. The college is committed to implementing the recommendations of the study in order to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the college and to fulfill its mission and goals. 

START Team, Budget and Fiscal Planning, CBO

III.D.3.h

The college has established a Strategic Transition Action Response Team (START), which will act as a source for communication regarding the forthcoming FCMAT report and the follow-up actions necessary.  START will also prioritize and make recommendations to the college president on the implementation of the FCMAT recommendations.  Additional reviews will be completed by the college's shared governance committees (Academic Senate, College Council, Budget and Fiscal Planning Committee).

START Team, Budget and Fiscal Planning, CBO

III.D.4

The Strategic Transition Action Response Team (START) has been formed to act as a recommending body to the president and to the Board of Trustees to prioritize and implement the recommendations of the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assessment Team report due in December 2012.   The team is composed of Executive Council members as well as representatives of administration, faculty and classified staff. 

START Team, Budget and Fiscal Planning, CBO