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Accreditation Tips

1. Know Your College's Mission

  • Read the mission statement and reflect on its meaning. 
    • "To educate and inspire, providing our students with the opportunity to achieve their goals."
  • Consider how the mission informs your work and the student experience.
  • Understand the values embedded in the mission, such as access and opportunity. 

2. Understand Accreditation

Know the College's learning goals and learning outcomes.

Understand accredditation expectations and how they apply to you:

  1. The four crieteria.
  2. Assumed practices.
  3. Federal Compliance.

3. Understand Your College's Goals

4. Engage In Assessment

  • Become familiar with institutional learning outcomes.
  • Utilize direct and indirect measures to assess effectiveness.
  • Document results and draw inferences on evidence collected.
  • Implement and document changes to enhance quality.
  • Be Proactive, if you are planning any changes in your program or curricular offerings-locations, or success initiatives, contact Teddi (tlewisho@cscc.edu) or Darla (dvanhorn@cscc.edu) in the Office of Accreditation.

5. Understand and collect evidence

What is evidence? We say it---We do it---We improve it.

Evidence shows what we do, how well it works, and how we improve.

Strong evidence shows:

  • What we did: policies, processes, implementation
  • How it worked: data, outcomes, results
  • What we improved: changes based on what we learned

Good evidence is:

  • Real
  • Current
  • Documented
  • Connected to outcomes

Examples:

  • The college student success metrics based in cohorts or programs
  • Tutoring/advising usage, impact improvement action (as appropriate)
  • Program review action plans
  • Meeting agendasminutes with decisions and follow-up

Tips:

  • Start with your daily work
  • Look for data + action together
  • Show change over time
  • Ask: Does this show impact?

HLC resource 

Contact:
Teddi Lewis-Hotopp at tlewisho@cscc.edu  
Darla Van Horn at dvanhorn@cscc.edu 

6. Engage In Continuous Improvement

  • Regularly assess effectiveness in your area and ensure alignment with mission, vision, values, student metrics, and institutional learning outcomes.
  • Clearly document assessment methods and processes, including those used in classrooms and labs.
  • Use assessment results to guide decision-making and support continuous improvement.
  • Implement and document changes to enhance quality that resulted from evaluation and assessment.

Contact:

accreditation@cscc.edu

7. Stay Informed

Stay connected with our office for the latest accreditation news, resources, and opportunities to engage. 

      accreditation@cscc.edu or  https://www.cscc.edu/about/accreditation/

Review communications from our office and relevant updates from the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) regularly.

Respond promptly to information requests and inquiries from the Office of Accreditation.

Deepen your understanding of accreditation standards and how they support student learning and institutional effectiveness.

Your engagement. Our commitment. Student success.

8. Ask About Accreditation

  • Seek clarification on accreditation requirements from Teddi Lewis-Hotopp (tlewisho@cscc.edu) or Darla Van Horn (dvanhorn@cscc.edu).
  • Ask questions if you aren't sure. Accreditation impacts everyone and is a collective and collaborative effort.
  • If you need help or resources for special accreditation for your area, please contact Teddi or Darla in the Accreditation Office or accreditation@cscc.edu 

https://www.cscc.edu/about/accreditation/

 

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