El Camino College Reaffirmation of Accreditation: Virtual Site Visit

Dear Colleagues:

Reaffirmation of accreditation is an important event in the life of an institution. The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, ACCJC accreditation process

provides assurance to the public that the accredited member colleges meet the Standards;
affirms that the education earned at the institutions is of value to the studentwho earned it;
validates that employers, trade or profession-related licensing agencies, and other colleges and universities can accept a student’s credential as legitimate.

El Camino College’s accreditation status was last affirmed in 2014. The College was one of the last colleges to undergo a six-year cycle of accreditation. Following the 2020 reaffirmation of accreditation, the College will be on the new, seven-year cycle of accreditation.

There are several steps involved in the reaffirmation of accreditation:

A comprehensive self-evaluation of the College’s policies and practices as measured against accreditation standards
A development and submission of the Institutional Self-Evaluation Report (ISER) which includes a Quality Focused Essay to further strengthen particular aspects of the College’s practices
A site visit by a team of peers to validate the ISER and gather more information about the college and how it meets accreditation standards
Meetings between the peer review team and committees and individuals
Development of the visiting team report, which we are permitted to review for correction of facts
Consideration of the ISER, the visiting team report and a decision by the ACCJC to reaffirm the College

Thanks to the hard work of the Accreditation Co-Chairs Ms. Claudia Striepe and Dr. Christina Gold, along with the members of the Accreditation Steering Committee and our Accreditation Liaison Officer, Dr. Jean Shankweiler, we have successfully completed our self-evaluation and submitted our ISER. We are now preparing for a virtual site visit by our peer review team, led by Dr. Whitney Yamamura, President of Folsom Lake College. The site visit will take place September 28 – October 1, 2020. Peer review team members contact information can be viewed here.

In preparation of the site visit, we have developed a Quick Guide to Accreditation, which provides more information about the accreditation process, and the highlights of the El Camino College ISER. The Guide can be found on the ECC accreditation website. Please take a few moments to review the Guide and please feel free to ask any questions of either Dr. Shankweiler or myself.

The accreditation process strengthens institutions and brings about positive reinforcement of institutional mission, values and ability to meet recognized standards of excellence. Thank you for your contribution in making El Camino College the unique and special place it is – where students belong and where students succeed.

Sincerely,

Dena P. Maloney

Dena P. Maloney, Ed.D.
Superintendent/President
El Camino Community College District