Eighteen community colleges face sanctions from accreditor
Some 18 California Community Colleges face sanctions from the system's accrediting agency, the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges.
Photo by Harrison KeelyThe most frequently cited deficiencies were a lack of program review, inadequate use of assessment results to drive planning, financial management issues, internal governance strife and problems with the roles that governing boards play.
Meanwhile, Inside Higher Ed reports this weekthat discontent over the accreditor's role is brewing among different groups in the community college world. The high number of penalties prompted a task force to scrutinize the accreditor's actions.
The numbers are striking: The accrediting agency, which evaluates two-year colleges in California, Hawaii and a few other locations, placed 37 percent of California community colleges on sanctions from 2003 to 2008. By contrast, other accrediting bodies sanctioned between zero and six percent of their community colleges, the task force found in a study.
While the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges only deals in three types of public sanctions – "warning," "probation" and the most aggressive, "show cause" – other accrediting groups nudge colleges with informal warnings before slapping a public