Some 18 California Community Colleges face sanctions from the system's accrediting agency, the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges.
Photo by Harrison Keely
The most frequently cited deficiencies were a lack of program review, inadequate use of assessment results to drive planning, financial management issues, internal governance strife and problems with the roles that governing boards play.
Meanwhile, Inside Higher Ed reports this week that discontent over the accreditor's role is brewing among different groups in the community college world. The high number of penalties prompted a task force to scrutinize the accreditor's actions.
The numbers are striking: The accrediting agency, which evaluates two-year colleges in California, Hawaii and a few other locations, placed 37 percent of California community colleges on sanctions from 2003 to 2008. By contrast, other accrediting bodies sanctioned between zero and six percent of their community colleges, the task force found in a study.
While the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges only deals in three types of public sanctions – "warning," "probation" and the most aggressive, "show cause" – other accrediting groups nudge colleges with informal warnings before slapping a public sanction on them.
The task force essentially recommended that the accreditor focus on improvement and less on compliance. In response, the commission said it was responding to pressure to hold colleges more accountable.
And only one institution – Compton Community College – has lost its accreditation.
Here's a look at the 18 California community colleges still facing sanctions. For each college, we list one key recommendation that accreditors said had not yet been fulfilled as of their most recent evaluation. Click on the link to see the institution's accreditation website.
College of Alameda: On "warning" status since June 2009.
Issue: The annual budget and the budget process continue to be unclear due to the changing processes and problems with information flow and prompt communications. The installation and complexity of new financial software have magnified the problems.
Copper Mountain College: On "warning" status since June 2008.
Issue: The school's strategic plan must be integrated with program reviews, college planning and resource allocation.
Crafton Hills College: On probation since January 2009.
Issue: There continue to be systematic problems in the reliability of provided data … It is imperative that Crafton Hills College move expeditiously to provide the necessary human and technology resources to provide reliable data and information to college planners and decision-makers.
Cuesta College: On probation as of January 2010.
Issue: The commission is concerned that Cuesta College has not yet completed a planning process to which program review, planning, funding processes, technology planning or financial planning can be linked.
Diablo Valley College: On probation as of January 2010.
Issue: The commission upgraded the college's status from "show cause" to probation this year. The college still has work to do to clarify the decision-making roles of constituent groups. It has yet to fully implement, test and evaluate the new governance structure and the quality of decision-making that results from it.
Feather River College: On warning status since June 2009.
Issue: The college struggled with the data management system needed for research and planning. Plus, the research capacity at Feather River College has diminished, potentially hampering the analysis of data and information for planning purposes.
Imperial Valley College: On warning status since January 2008.
Issue: Information important to students needs to be more readily available, including the policy for accepting transfer credit, description of availability of financial aid and sexual harassment policy.
Los Angeles City College: On probation since June 2009.
Issue: There was insufficient evidence that the college conducted better assessment measures to improve student learning.
East Los Angeles College: On probation as of January 2010.
Issue: The college must accelerate its measurement of student learning outcomes and use assessment results to improve instruction and student services.
Los Angeles Trade Tech College: On probation as of June 2009.
Issue: There is little evidence that the college is making data-informed decisions as part of its program review and planning processes.
Merritt College: On warning status since June 2009.
Issue: The quantitative and qualitative data relied on for plans do not appear to be used in a way that addresses quality assurance. Also, there are concerns about the accessibility of data the college receives from the district.
Los Angeles Mission College: On warning status since June 2008.
Issue: The district had not provided enough analysis on how it can meet its unfunded retiree health benefit liability without negatively impacting the future financial health of the district.
Palomar College: On warning status since June 2009.
Issue: The college needs a board policy that prohibits members of the faculty senate from discussing the performance of specific employees with the college's board of trustees unless due process is given to those employees.
Pasadena City College: On warning status since June 2009.
Issue: There is little evidence that program review data is integrated into the planning processes and resource allocation.
College of the Redwoods: On warning status since June 2009.
Issue: The college has to continue to clarify roles and responsibilities within its governance system.
Solano College: On probation since June 2009.
Issue: The commission changed the college's status from "show cause" to probation in 2009. The college still needs to work on improving communication and dialogue without allowing operational- or collective-bargaining issues to distract it.
Riverside City College: On warning status as of January 2010.**
Issue: The college does not have a true strategic plan and has no agreed-upon long-term institutional goals.
Southwestern College: On probation as of January 2010.
Issue: Of the ten recommendations the commission gave the college in 2003, only two have been completely resolved. The college has not adequately addressed the college's longstanding negative climate, including a "culture of fear and intimidation" and "lack of trust."
**This sentence originally reported that Riverside City College is on probation, when actually it is on warning status.
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