Beginning October 6, students and faculty members can expect visits from members of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, or WASC, in preparation for the upcoming accreditation evaluation of El Camino College.
“Accreditation is something that in order for a public or private school to grant a degree or certificate they have to have federal accreditation.” Dr. Arvid Spor said, Dean of Enrollment Services.
Next month El Camino College will be expecting its visit for accreditation, which happens every six years, by a commission of individuals from different schools within El Camino’s district.
The commission usually contains at least one president leading the group, as well as a vice president and other faculty members from different campuses, in order to better understand what actually is going on at our campus.
What this means for El Camino students is that our school is being held to a federal standard that must be met in order for our college to be a legitimate school.
In order for our school to be held more accountable of what its students learn, the commission makes sure that our college has documentation and proof of keeping to the standard.
By going around the campus, the commission assesses what need improvement within the school. These improvements are then given to our committee as recommendations on what we can improve on.
As of last spring El Camino College has had four recommendations.
“In a sense we’ve actually got a clean slate when we start off with this cycle.” Dr. Spor said, in light of the upcoming visit next month.
After the last accreditation visit there was a change of standards. The standards are another way the school is held accountable for.
Now, schools will be held to four standards as opposed to the former ten. Within these fours standards are six themes and one of these themes are Student Learning Outcomes, or SLO for short.
Student Learning Outcomes help make sure that the students are learning what they are supposed to. This is proved by tests or demonstrations of what the student has learned.
What this does for students is help ensure that they are getting a well-earned and accredited education from their teachers and staff.
This SLO program is just one of the many steps that El Camino is doing in order to achieve the goal of becoming an exemplary college.
El Camino College students can actually see what our school’s goals and standards are for accreditation at the El Camino’s website. It can be found near the bottom left hand corner of the front page.
“What is Accreditation? We evaluate ourselves, and that’s what this document is really about.” Dr. Spor said.
“The commissions says if a college can meet each and everyone one of these categories it would become an exemplary college, and the idea is to become an exemplary college.”
This October, students may find themselves being interviewed by members of the WASC committee, on whether or not their college is up to their standards.
As Dr. Arvid Spor said, “There are areas we can improve in, and areas where we have met the standard. Our goals here is to exceed the standard.”
