October 1-4, 2018 Cerro Coso Community College will welcome a team of nine administrators and faculty serving on the Accrediting Commission of Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) review team for the purpose of reaffirmation of accreditation.
The visit is an important part of the regular review cycle required by the ACCJC to confirm that Cerro Coso continues to meet eligibility requirements and that the college's policies and practices continue to align with the Standards and Commission policies, as described in the Institutional Self-Evaluation Report.
The College would like to invite the community to participate in an Open Forum on Tuesday, October 2, from 5 to 6 p.m. in room 407 of the Gym. This forum will be zoomed to all campuses.
“It's an opportunity for the visiting team to get feedback from people in the many communities of the college's service area,” said Cerro Coso President Jill Board.
During its three-day visit, the ACCJC team — comprised of officials from other colleges who have completed the ACCJC's peer-review training program — will speak with numerous people throughout the college service area. Team members are assigned to review specific sections of the Institutional Self-Evaluation Report available online at https://www.cerrocoso.edu/accreditation/accreditation-2018
Following their interviews, evidence review, and other interactions, the team members finalize evaluations on their assigned sections and submit to the team chair, who compiles a final report to submit to ACCJC. As a team, the members work to formulate commendations (things the college is doing particularly well), recommendations to meet the Standard (when the college is deficient in meeting the requirements of a Standard or Standards), or recommendations to increase effectiveness (designed to increase a condition that already meets the Standard).
“We are excited. A lot of hard work went into preparing for the ACCJC's visit, and we're eager to host them,” said Board. “We appreciate the support we've had from the College's faculty, staff, and administrators leading up to the visit and look forward to their participation — and the participation of our students and community members— during the visit.”
