This past Tuesday and Wednesday, Skyline College community members attended two sessions to demystify accreditation and the upcoming site visit. The first featured a broader view of accreditation from Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) Senior Vice President Stephanie Droker, and the second highlighted what to expect during the actual site visit, with panelists who served on site visit teams at other colleges. The upcoming site visit is a follow-up to Skyline College’s self-evaluation (the ISER) of how well we fulfill our mission and meet the accreditation standards. The ACCJC standards are considered best practices in operating a two-year college and aligned with federal regulations. The team that will visit Skyline College consists of nine (down from the original ten) administrators and faculty from member institutions of the ACCJC.
Senior VP Stephanie Droker assured the audience that accreditation has evolved, which was echoed by panelists’ recent experiences. A major shift is in how the site visit team is trained. As opposed to seeking out problematic areas, they are on campus primarily to validate what we stated in our institutional self-evaluation report (ISER). How? They’ll do so through meeting with leaders on campus, perhaps asking for further clarification and evidence. They won’t impose their own practices on Skyline College, but rather will evaluate the College based on how well it fulfills its mission. Meetings with college leaders are intended to be dialogues, not interrogations. As Senior VP Droker emphasized, accreditation is a peer driven process.
Skyline College’s site visit is only two weeks away, from September 30 to October 3, 2019. Even if you are not asked to meet with site visit team members, you have an opportunity to share your views with them at one of the forums. Please attend and spread the word!
- Tuesday, October 1, 2019 | 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Building 6, Rooms 6-202, 6-204, 6-206 - Wednesday, October 2, 2019 | 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Building 1, Theater
On a last note, special thanks to Interim President Jannett Jackson, Vice President of Administrative Services Eloisa Briones and Vice President of Instruction Jennifer Taylor Mendoza for sharing their accreditation experiences.
For more information, please see the accreditation site visit web page.
Article by Karen Wong | Photo by Brittney Sneed
