Accreditation: Accelerated Timeline for Learning Outcomes Assessment

Hello Shoreline Faculty,

As President Kahn shared in an email on March 1 (see below), NWCCU, our accrediting agency, has issued a warning because Shoreline has not made adequate progress in addressing two recommendations (i.e., areas in which the College is out of compliance) from their comprehensive site visit in 2020. One of these recommendations focuses on learning outcomes assessment, and our efforts in this area will also support progress related to the other recommendation: planning and use of data. We must show significant progress on both recommendations by our next comprehensive site visit on October 5-6, 2023, although our progress report is due earlier on August 24.

Recently, Dr. Ed Harri, our institutional liaison at NWCCU, recommended accelerating our work around the Shoreline Student Learning Outcomes (SSLOs) and Transfer Program Outcomes (TPOs), and beginning the assessment cycle in Spring 2023. To do that, we will need provisional approval (i.e., approval for the purpose of assessment) of the outcomes before the end of Winter 2023; all outcomes will continue to be revised for final approval following input from faculty during Spring 2023.

SSLOs Assessment

Six teams have been developing assessable outcomes for the following categories:

• Critical Thinking
• Equity & Social Justice
• Information Literacy
• Non-Written Communication* (official name pending)
• Quantitative & Symbolic Reasoning
• Written Communication

Actions to take by August 24

• Assess two SSLOs: “Critical Thinking” and “Equity & Social Justice”
• Review all the SSLOs and approve preliminary versions to post on our website

TPOs Assessment

An additional team has been developing learning outcomes for our transfer degrees (Associate of Arts or AA-DTA and Associate of Science or AS-T), aligned with the distribution requirements for the AA-DTA and core science requirements for the AS-T.

Actions to take by August 24

• Assess two TPOs
• Review and approve all TPOs

Provisional Approval Process

The Learning Outcomes Assessment Committee has proposed the following process for provisional approval of the two SSLOs as well as all TPOs.

• March 13: Learning Outcomes Assessment Committee – Final Review 
• March 14: Transfer Program Outcomes Team – Final Review
• March 14: Shoreline Student Learning Outcomes Assessment Committee – Final Review 
• March 16: Curriculum Committee – Review
• March 17: VP-SLES Phillip King – Provisional Approval
  
  

The process described above includes a substantial and representative group of faculty members (click here for an overview of all teams). The final approval of the SSLOs and TPOs will include Faculty Senate Council in Spring 2023.  Please note that this extra effort will require an all-hands-on-deck approach. As such, if part-time faculty have an interest in participating, we will be able to compensate them for their participation.

Looking Ahead

In Spring 2023, faculty will be asked to identify existing assignments that assess the selected outcomes. More details about this process will be shared in a follow-up email.

Please feel free to direct any questions to Romina Plozza (rplozza@shoreline.edu) or Bayta Maring (bmaring@shoreline.edu).

Sincerely,

Phillip J. King, Ed.D. Vice President for Student Learning, Equity, and Success