Accreditation Finding Q & A Thursday, March 2, 4-5 pm

Dear Campus Community, 
 

This is an update since our last announcements regarding the College’s accreditation with the Northwest Commission on Colleges & Universities (NWCCU).  

We have received and posted an official letter from the NWCCU on the College’s public Accreditation page (see specifically 2023 Ad Hoc Response from NWCCU). The College is now on warning as a result of this letter. 

Based on the October 2022 accreditation site visit, the College was found still to be out-of-compliance with accreditation standards in two areas: 
 

·         Planning and use of data: Recommendation 1 from Fall 2020: Mission Fulfillment and Sustainability – “Provide evidence of a systematic method for collecting, storing, accessing, using and sharing data for the purposes of on-going and systematic evaluation, planning, resource allocation and informing decision-making toward improving institutional effectiveness and achieving mission fulfillment.” (2020 Standard(s) 1.B.1; 1.B.2) 

·         Assessment of student learning outcomes: Recommendation 1 from Fall 2022 Ad Hoc Report with Visit – “Engage in a systematic assessment process for all college programs, including transfer degree programs, through the use of programmatic and institutional outcomes to gather data that will be used for academic and learning support program planning and resource allocation.” (Standards 1.C.5, 1.C.6, 1.C.7) 

While the accreditation language used by the NWCCU is a “recommendation,” the College must address and resolve these two out-of-compliance recommendations by October 2024 or the College will be put on probation. 

And, we need to demonstrate significant progress toward compliance by our next accreditation site visit on October 5-6, 2023 (mark your calendar). The accreditation report prior to that visit is due August 24, 2023 so we have less than 6 months to enact significant accreditation work.  

We also need to demonstrate progress on two additional recommendations, in which we are substantially in compliance but in need of improvement: 

·         Student achievement and use of data: Recommendation 3 from Fall 2020: Mission Fulfillment and Sustainability – “Use disaggregated student achievement data including persistence, completion, retention, and post-graduate success for continuous improvement to inform planning, decision making and allocation of resources. Performance on these indicators should be widely published and continually used to promote student achievement, improve student learning, and close equity gaps.” (2020 Standard(s) 1.D.2;1.D.3;1.D.4) 

·         Financial resources and budget processes: Recommendation 5 from Fall 2020: Mission Fulfillment and Sustainability – “Manage financial resources transparently by defining, developing and sharing financial processes, policies, and budget development decisions, including ongoing budget management and annual financial statements. Stakeholders should have opportunities for meaningful participation in the budget development process.” (2020 Standard(s) 2.E.2;2.E.3) 

While this sanction of warning is serious and should motivate us all to come together across the College, in each area, to align our work and ensure the College stays accredited, we do want to acknowledge the rich and robust work already underway. And to acknowledge that these improvements will improve our college and the way we serve our community. 

Join us tomorrow to learn about those efforts, to learn how you can get involved, and to ask questions (the session will be recorded and posted on DAAG): 

Accreditation Finding Q and A 

Thursday, 4-5 pm  

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84369347745 
Meeting ID: 843 6934 7745 
Dial +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma) 

Sincerely, 

Jack Kahn, President 
 

Ann Garnsey-Harter, Associate VP-Planning, Institutional Effectiveness, & Project Management and Accreditation Liaison Officer