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 

Thanks to everyone who participated in and helped prepare for the training this week with our accreditor, the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU).

The day was kicked off with a training session with the newly-formed  Accreditation & Institutional Effectiveness Committee. There also were sessions with Executive Team and Student Learning, Equity, & Success Leadership Team; the Learning Outcomes Assessment Committee, Faculty Program Chairs, and Deans; a Q & A session open to campus; and finally the Study Session with the Board of Trustees (BOT).

Ed Harri, Senior Vice President with the NWCCU, told the BOT that he was heartened to see more than 50 faculty, staff, and administrators from around the College come to the training sessions. It was emphasized in the sessions that accreditation work needs to be done across the College and is a shared effort.

See training  agenda here and  training slides here.

Recordings of individual sessions will be sent out to those groups relevant to each recording.

The College will be receiving a formal letter from the NWCCU next week in response to the NWCCU’s last site visit in October 2022 and more information will be shared at that point.

Sincerely,

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

Dear Campus Colleagues,

We have received correspondence from the Northwest Commission on Colleges & Universities (NWCCU) that indicates the College still has quite a bit of work to do to be in compliance with our accreditation standards. We will be receiving a formal letter from the NWCCU soon in response to their last site visit in October 2022. We will update you as soon as we receive the letter.

Specifically, quoting from the accreditation Standard 1.B.1, the College needs to “demonstrate a continuous process to assess institutional effectiveness, including student learning and achievement, and support services.” In addition, the College needs to “use an ongoing and systematic evaluation and planning process to inform and refine our institutional effectiveness, assign our resources, and improve student learning and achievement.”

As an institution, we will assess our effectiveness through data-informed reviews (self-reflections) in each area of the College. The good news is that most instructional departments and student services areas made significant progress on this work this last summer and fall; that analysis informed funding decisions for tenure-track faculty positions and instructional equipment. We will build on that momentum and ensure that all areas of the college complete a review by the end of this academic year: by June 16, 2023.

The review process will be “continuous” in that each area will complete a review each year (a shorter annual review) and a comprehensive review every 3-4 years. A DRAFT multi-year calendar can be found on a new Institutional Planning Sharepoint site. 

The review process will inform how we “assign our resources,” which means if your area wants to request additional resources (i.e. funding-including up to $100,000 in Innovation Grants, staffing, or equipment beyond the tenure-track positions and instructional equipment that already have been approved), then you will need to complete a review by an earlier deadline of April 24, 2023, to allow for analysis that will inform the development of the 2023-24 budget.

We will be using the president’s goals to guide the College’s current strategic direction until a new Strategic Plan is created in the coming months and to prioritize resource requests. While we expect a tight budget year, the budget development process will be participatory, transparent, and informed by your area reviews.  All Executive Team (ET) decisions will be shared out first to the Strategic Planning & Budget Council (the College’s relevant participatory governance group) before going to the Board of Trustees in May.

Please keep in mind that reviewing your specific area is the first step of this process. The NWCCU also expects us to look at the results of the review and make changes to our practices based on what we learn in order to demonstrate improvement. We then need to document that improvement in our accreditation report.  

The Planning & Institutional Effectiveness (PIE) area will reach to each area individually with more details on your area review.

In the meantime, mark your calendar for tomorrow’s all-campus Accreditation Q & A session with the NWCCU. Come to understand the big picture of accreditation and ask questions: Wednesday, February 22, 2023, Noon-1 pm, room 1010M / Boardroom or Zoom.

A final piece of good news is that Shoreline applied for and has been accepted into the yearlong NWCCU Mission Fulfillment & Sustainability Fellowship program, which will provide a structured opportunity for advancing the College’s accreditation work with guidance not only from our NWCCU accreditors, but from national experts.

Sincerely,

Jack Kahn, President

Ann Garnsey-Harter, Associate VP-Planning, Institutional Effectiveness, & Project Management

Bill Saraceno, Interim VP – Business & Administrative Services