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ORANGE COAST COLLEGE
Accreditation
What is it?
Colleges are granted accreditation when they meet or surpass stated standards of educational quality. Orange Coast College receives official recognition from the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.
Why is it important?
Accreditation is so important because it certifies to the public, students and our employees that Orange Coast College is fulfilling its mission and goals to maintain the best practices in higher education, recognized at local, state and national levels. It certifies that Orange Coast College has:
- Appropriate purposes
- Resources to accomplish its purposes
- Evidence to support its stated accomplishments
- Given assurance that it will continue to accomplish its purposes
How do we earn a successful accreditation?
During the process of accreditation Orange Coast College conducts a self-study. Teams comprised of faculty, staff, administrators and students analyze and evaluate the college in terms of four standards:
- Standard I: Institutional Mission and Effectiveness
- Standard II: Student Learning Programs and Services
- Standard III: Resources
- Standard IV: Leadership and Governance.
The teams must ask these types of questions regarding each of the four standards as they apply to the relevant areas of the college:
- Are we doing what we say we are doing?
- How well are we doing it?
- What evidence supports our claims?
- How can we improve what we are doing?
In order to find convincing evidence to support their answers to these questions, the teams must conduct intensive research on the campus during the months of the self-study. They must document their responses with evidence from college written and electronic materials and from interviews with faculty, staff and students. Their reports must accomplish three goals:
- description of what we currently do;
- evaluation of what we currently do;
- action plan for improvement
In addition, the reports on each of these standards must include references to those elements of a successful community college that the ACCJC believes to be important. For example, the current report must include reference to six key themes: institutional commitments; evaluation, planning and improvement; student learning outcomes; organization; dialogue; institutional integrity.
With honesty, energy and commitment from the entire campus, the self-study teams will be able to collect information on the changes that have occurred on our campus since our last accreditation, document how well we are meeting our goals, determine where we need to improve, and prepare ourselves for the future.
What is the timeline for the accreditation process?
The reports from the teams were collated into a complete accreditation self-study report and submitted to the ACCJC in December 2006.
However, the self-study is just one of the elements of the accreditation process. Orange Coast College hosted an onsite visit from a commission evaluation team in March 2007. The team conducted its own evaluation of the college, using the self-study report, interviews, and research. The college received an accreditation rating and recommendations for action or improvement.
The next step in the accreditation process is a Progress Report, submitted to the ACCJC one year after the onsite visit. This report focuses on the resolution of the recommendations made by the evaluation team.
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