Photo by Rich Estrada / The Skyline View
English professor Karen Wong leads a discussion regarding Student Learning Outcomes.
The Accreditation Milestone Open Forum presented the second draft of the accreditation Self-Evaluation Report on Jan. 29 to both faculty and students who attended, allowing them to comment on it and offer any suggestion which they may have.
“I was very pleased, particularly with the students participating because what happened is what needed to happen, which is we caught some things we hadn’t mentioned that are important about this college so that we can make sure that we include it and that’s exactly what we wanted,” said Dean of Social Science/ Creative Arts & Admiration Co-Chair Donna Bestock.
The Self-Evaluation Report is part of Skyline College and her sister colleges, Canada and CSM,preparation for a visit from the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC).
The ACCJC is one of several regional accrediting commissions authorized by the US Department of Education to accredit colleges throughout the nation. The ACCJC is charged with evaluating overall educational quality and institutional effectiveness of a college and ensuring that they meet accreditation standards.
The commission also provides assurances to the public and other institutions of education that the accredited college degrees which they offer students are credential and legitimate.
In following these guidelines, the report is aimed at accurately reflecting documents and shows how Skyline College provides the resources and services that students need to be successful with their studies here at Skyline College.
The first theme running through the Self-Evaluation Report is institutional commitments to high quality education, consistency between its mission of supporting students and evaluation, planning and improvement that focuses on student achievements, learning, and continuity improvements to all aspects of Skyline College.
“There is a lot of people participating, there are the co-chairs, the steering committee, I think, there is something like 60 writers spread out across the four standards,” said Director of Library Services Thomas Hewitt.
“I feel like I learnt a lot about the campus and what Skyline community college actually does for its people, the service it provides and what a community college mean to the state and the accreditation committee” said Student Gov. Senator Richard Lopez.
Skyline has been working on the accreditation report for the past year and a half, according to Bestock, in that process the report has undergone two drafts; the first was ready by the beginning of fall last semester.
“We took a look at that and suggested improvements and they incorporated them into the second draft and so right now we’re working on the third draft, which will be the final draft” said Bestock, after the event.
The current draft that is being worked on the third and final draft of the report will be presented to the various governing bodies of Skyline College, which includes the student government, before it finally heads to the College President Dr. Regina Stanback Stroud for her to sign. From there, it will finally head to the district Board of Trustee before it is finally submitted to the accreditation
committee.
“We’ve always wanted our report to be top-notch so that the visiting team doesn’t see any need to mark us down” said Hewitt.
The accreditation team is due to visit Skyline College later in the year from Oct. 20 to 24.
This article has been update to correct Associated Press (AP) Style errors and other mistakes present.