Everyone likes to get recognized for a job well done. Recently Allan Hancock College employees and the school’s board of trustees got a morale boost after getting some much-deserved recognition during its accreditation evaluation process.
A 13-member team of peer evaluators commended Hancock for several items including its committed board of trustees, the management and implementation of the $180 million Bond Measure I funding that was approved in 2006, and its state-of-the-art Public Safety Training Complex and public safety programs. The praise, based on the team’s initial findings, came at the end of the evaluation team’s visit to the college. The visit was made on behalf of the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior College (ACCJC), Western Association of Schools and Colleges as part of the college’s self-study and accreditation reaffirmation process that takes place every six years. Hancock has been fully accredited and in good standing since 1952.
Hancock Superintendent/President Kevin G. Walthers told the Sun it’s particularly exciting to receive the commendations for the trustees who came out to the accreditation meeting on their own time, the management of the bond funding, and also especially for the Public Safety Training Complex and PCPA.
“It proves that our college is innovative and keeping on the cutting edge of technology so that when we say, ‘Start here go, anywhere,’ our students can do just that,” he said.
As part of the process, the accreditation team visited Hancock for four days.
Prior to leaving, the team presented an exit report to the college on its preliminary findings.
Evaluators also applauded the college’s efforts in student services by commending outreach events that involve area high schools like Hancock Hello, a new student orientation, and Bridges to Success, which improved relationships between high school and college counselors.
The evaluators toured the Santa Maria campus and Lompoc Valley Center. They also walked through the Federal Correctional Complex in Lompoc where the college operates education programs. Evaluators interviewed dozens of Hancock faculty and staff to gather more information and discuss how the college addresses standards laid out by the ACCJC. Colleges are evaluated on resource and finance management, leadership and governance, student learning programs and support services, academic quality, and institutional effectiveness.
As part of the accreditation process, the college submitted a 473-page document with hundreds of pieces of evidence to the ACCJC in late July to demonstrate how the college satisfies specific standards mandated by the commission. But Walthers explained the process actually goes on every day.
“Accreditation is what we do every day,” Walthers said. He explained that because of the extensive efforts it takes to achieve the status that deserves accreditation, college staff must incorporate that goal into their daily efforts. In that respect the entire staff, faculty, and board of trustees work as a team.
Walthers said that at the start of each semester the entire staff meets to discuss goals and address challenges. This process includes breaking out into groups and “mixing it up,” so that employees from different departments and levels of management have a chance to work together and understand that each job contributes to the whole.
“It’s about making everyone feel that they are a part of the team,” Walthers said.
After their visit the evaluation team offered the college a few preliminary recommendations to increase effectiveness such as linking student learning outcomes to improvement, and assessing the needs for evening hours in student services. The team also suggested that the college ensure it meets standards focused on curriculum approval, distance education, and the evaluation process.
The evaluation team will spend the next few weeks writing and finalizing its report before presenting it to the commission for approval. The commission meeting to determine the status of Hancock’s accreditation is scheduled for January 2017.
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This article appears in Oct 13-20, 2016.
