Accreditation 2006

Cerro Coso Accreditation

Cerro Coso Community College is preparing for its accreditation visit conducted by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges. This visit, and the preparation that it involves, usually occurs on a six year cycle. A team of Community College professionals is scheduled to visit Cerro Coso in October 2006. A critical part of this preparation involves compiling a college Self Study Report that addresses the mandated themes established by the accrediting commission.

Introduction to the Accreditation Standards

The primary purpose of an ACCJC-accredited institution is to foster learning in its students. An effective institution ensures that its resources and processes support student learning, continuously assesses that learning, and pursues institutional excellence and improvement. An effective institution maintains an ongoing, self- reflective dialogue about its quality and improvement.

An institution-wide dialogue must be at the heart of the self-evaluation process for the college community to gain a comprehensive perspective of the institution. Although the standards are presented in four parts, they work together to facilitate this dialogue on the institution�s effectiveness and on ways in which it may improve. The self study provides the Commission with the institution�s assessment of itself as a whole.

The institutional mission provides the impetus for achieving student learning and other goals that the institution endeavors to accomplish. The institution provides the means for students to learn, assesses how well learning is occurring, and strives to improve that learning through ongoing, systematic, and integrated planning (Standard I). Instructional programs, student support services, and library and learning support services facilitate the achievement of the institution�s stated student learning outcomes (Standard II). Human, physical, technology, and financial resources enable these programs and services to function and improve (Standard III). Ethical and effective leadership throughout the organization guides the accomplishment of the mission and supports institutional effectiveness and improvement (Standard IV).

A college-wide dialogue that integrates the elements of the Standards provides the complete view of the institution that is needed to verify integrity and to promote quality and improvement.

Excerpt from the "Introduction to the Accreditation Standards" by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) Western Association of Schools and Colleges

View Complete Accreditation Standards Document by the ACCJC