Accreditation
Introduction
Accreditation is all about making connections. WASC, our national accrediting body, wants to see how Harbor is “connecting the dots.” What are the links we have established between policy and program, planning and budget, teaching and learning? How does Harbor integrate its abstract “policy” decisions with the more “concrete” reality of what actually happens on our campus and in our specific classes? More specifically, do our budget and planning decisions realistically reflect our completed program reviews that are based on solid learning outcomes and assessment? Accreditation challenges us to “flesh out” what it means to connect the “idea” of a community college with what we actually do.
Our next accreditation Self-Study is due in 2012. Ideally the development of that study should be the tool through which the College assesses and integrates all its planning processes. By agreement of administration and the Academic Senate, the two of us will be coordinating the preparation of that report in a way that jumpstarts the development of the 2012 Self-Study with the widest possible involvement. We will be seeking advice and consensus from many of you in terms of how we actually can “connect the dots”- implementing the objectives we set for ourselves in the 2006 Self-Study and achieving the goals set by the accrediting commission in its response. We look forward to working with all of you in this joint endeavor.
Jim Stanbery, Ellen Joiner - Accreditation Coordinators