Commission that Placed Pasadena City College on Accreditation Probation Now Under Investigation

The U.S. Department of Education is now considering recommendations to limit the authority of the accrediting commission that placed Pasadena City College on probation last summer.

Among other sanctions, the education department’s accreditation unit said the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (WASC-ACCJC) should be stripped of its existing federal authority to approve some four-year degree programs at California’s community colleges.

In a report published Wednesday, December 9, 2015, department staff recommended that WASC-ACCJC’s request for broader authority to approve bachelor’s degree programs be denied.

“The agency (referring to ACCJC) has not demonstrated that its standards related to curricula are sufficient to comprehensively evaluate baccalaureate level degree programs and conform to commonly accepted standards for ensuring quality in such programs,” the accreditation unit report said.

The U.S. Department of Education report follows release in August of findings by a 2015 Task Force on Accreditation convened by the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, which concluded that “the California Community College system and its member institutions have lost confidence in the ACCJC.”

With the findings, the Task Force also recommended that the Chancellor’s Office “should evaluate possible accrediting agents for the California Community Colleges in a thorough yet expeditious manner and, working through the system’s established consultation processes, bring a recommendation for action to the Board of Governors by Spring 2016.”

The California Community College Chancellor’s Office is now in the process of creating a new model for accrediting the 113 colleges in the California Community College system.

A resolution signed by the Board of Governors at its November16 board meeting said that between 2009 and 2013, ACCJC had a sanction rate of approximately 53 percent, a rate that is “disproportionately high and frequent” imposed on California colleges, compared to 12 percent within other regions of the country.

The resolution also stated that “the current structure of ACCJC, along with its lack of credibility as perceived by its peers and the public, no longer meet the current and anticipated needs of California Community Colleges.”

“The Board of Governors is looking to the future needs of our colleges and striving to ensure the highest level of quality for the 2.1 million students we serve,” Board President Geoffrey L. Baum said in November. “There is widespread agreement among faculty, staff, trustees and other leaders within our system that the current accreditation process needs significant improvement. We look forward to examining a proposal for change early next year.”

California Community Colleges Chancellor Brice Harris is expected to present a recommendation and a plan for implementing the recommendation at the Board of Governor’s next meeting in March 2016.

Earlier, PCC officials said any changes in the accreditation process or shift to a new accrediting agency will not affect PCC’s probation status. Superintendent-President Rajen Vurdien sent out a notice to faculty and staff saying the Board of Governor’s decision will not affect the work being done on campus to become fully accredited.

PCC is required by ACCJC to submit a Follow-up Report in October 2016, after which the commission will conduct a team visit. In a meeting scheduled for January 2017, ACCJC will review the steps PCC took to comply with eligibility requirements, and may act to remove the Probation status if sufficient compliance is determined.