by Corinne Layton
I am pleased to report that we had two very well-attended Accreditation Forums this month. Thirty-five (35) people attended the first Accreditation Forum at Mid-City Campus on March 3, and 45 people attended the second Forum on March 7 in the Multi-purpose room at North City Campus. We had representation by faculty, staff, students and administration at the forums. Dean Pongsrikul (Accreditation Liaison Officer and Steering Committee Co-Chair) welcomed the attendees, and Steering Committee Co-chair Corinne Layton showed a PowerPoint Presentation that described the main components of the Accreditation process:
1) Self-Study: our institution’s opportunity to reflect and self-evaluate
2) Site Visit: scheduled for March 13-17
3) Strategic Action Plan: determine areas for improvement
Emphasis was made on how the Accreditation process is a team effort, with many contributors from the Steering Committee, Work/Focus/Home Groups, and the trained classroom observers who will be visiting classes this month. During the second part of the forums we separated into break-out groups for faculty, staff, counselors, students and administrators. Faculty had an opportunity to read and provide input on a section of the Self-Study related to Criterion 4 Curriculum, Criterion 5 Instructional Program or Criterion 6 Assessment. The classified staff responded to questions related to Criterion 3 Faculty and Staff, and Administration responded to questions about a variety of topics such as the mission and vision statements, implementation of the Action Plan and resource allocation. Students and counselors reviewed parts of the 2015 Student Feedback Survey and addressed areas that needed improvement.
The lively small group discussions were then followed by an informative report-back activity. At the end of the meeting we passed out bookmarks with our Accreditation theme Building on Success through Excellence; the bookmarks include the dates of the site visit and district website.
As one of our goals is to involve as many people as possible in the Accreditation process, getting the word out about Accreditation and eliciting input from as many stakeholders as possible is making the Accreditation Self-Study stronger and more inclusive.
Accreditation Forum at Mid-City Campus
Accreditation Forum at North City Campus