2008 Woodie Awards
Cañada accreditation in danger
Second school in district to be put on warning status
Christine Karavas
Issue date: 3/3/08 Section: News
Cañada College has been put on warning status, after a review by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges.
While on warning status, the college will remain fully accredited, assures Cañada President, Tom Mohr. "I anticipate that we will correct these deficiencies by the end of the semester," Mohr said.
In his opinion, the warning was unexpected. "I would have to say we were surprised. I also have reason to believe that the visiting committee itself was surprised."
The commission cited three things which Cañada needs to improve upon. "One, they want a master plan that has everything integrated into it. That would be the facilities master plan, the technology master plan and the program reviews and strategic plan," Mohr said.
"The second was that Student Learning Outcomes have not been defined in a sufficient number of courses... And the third one is that they asked for a staffing plan for support services. I believe the reason for that is that our counseling ratio is so high and because of the paucity of staff in the library."
The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges is directed by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC).
WASC accreditation asserts that a school is a valid, certified learning institution. After visiting a school, the WASC Accrediting Commission presents a report including recommendations for the improvement of the school.
The accreditation warning was all related to long-range planning for the college, said Robert Hood, Director of the Public Information Office at Cañada,
"Basically, that process to engage the campus in long-range planning started about two years ago. And it's just ongoing. And so, when that came down from the accrediting committee, it was something we said, 'Ok, we've got some work to do to finish our long-range planning,' which we knew we needed. So, it's a good opportunity for us to look at it and say, 'Ok, this is what we need to do.'"
CSM has also been put on warning status and plans to complete all necessary changes by Fall 2008.
While on warning status, the college will remain fully accredited, assures Cañada President, Tom Mohr. "I anticipate that we will correct these deficiencies by the end of the semester," Mohr said.
In his opinion, the warning was unexpected. "I would have to say we were surprised. I also have reason to believe that the visiting committee itself was surprised."
The commission cited three things which Cañada needs to improve upon. "One, they want a master plan that has everything integrated into it. That would be the facilities master plan, the technology master plan and the program reviews and strategic plan," Mohr said.
"The second was that Student Learning Outcomes have not been defined in a sufficient number of courses... And the third one is that they asked for a staffing plan for support services. I believe the reason for that is that our counseling ratio is so high and because of the paucity of staff in the library."
The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges is directed by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC).
WASC accreditation asserts that a school is a valid, certified learning institution. After visiting a school, the WASC Accrediting Commission presents a report including recommendations for the improvement of the school.
The accreditation warning was all related to long-range planning for the college, said Robert Hood, Director of the Public Information Office at Cañada,
"Basically, that process to engage the campus in long-range planning started about two years ago. And it's just ongoing. And so, when that came down from the accrediting committee, it was something we said, 'Ok, we've got some work to do to finish our long-range planning,' which we knew we needed. So, it's a good opportunity for us to look at it and say, 'Ok, this is what we need to do.'"
CSM has also been put on warning status and plans to complete all necessary changes by Fall 2008.
Be the first to comment on this story