Accreditation Dialogue

1/26/2007

2001 ACCJC-WASC Visiting Team Recommendations

The 2001 Accreditation Team Evaluation Report identified four recommendations to assist Ohlone College to improve our internal environment, to make our process more efficient and effective, and to better serve our educational mission (November 2001, Page 11). The 2001 Commission Action Letter identified two of the recommendations for focused review in the Midterm Report (2004) and requested an update on the other two recommendations. The Progress Report (2005) we were asked to only address the first two recommendations.

Two Major Recommendations

1. Recognizing that college needs and aspirations will likely exceed available resources, the team recommends that the board and administration, in consultation with college governance, define and clearly communicate a limited number of goals derived from the mission and stated as measurable outcomes. These goals should be used

(1) to prioritize strategic plan initiatives and

(2) to guide resource allocations for the greatest possible impact on student learning and the community.

2 The team recommends that the college develop performance outcome measures for program strategic plan goals and strategies to assess progress, ensure positive impact on student learning, and provide objective feedback to determine if initiatives should be continued, expanded, revised, or abandoned. Such outcomes should focus on clear results, particularly those linked to student learning and achievement, rather than process steps that have been completed.

Two Secondary Recommendations

3. The team recommends the college develop and implement an effective outcome-based methodology to evaluate the effectiveness of online and media-supported courses including the related student and academic support services for these courses. Such systems should include student feedback and evaluation of the faculty responsible for the course.

4. The team recommends the college implement systems to ensure broad understanding of planning and decision-making processes. Such systems should be designed to assist the college community in understanding decisions regarding such items as institutional initiatives and prioritization of new staff positions, financial allocations and faculty resources.