Evergreen Valley College

Accreditation

Dear EVC Community,

Evergreen Valley College's mission is "to empower and prepare students from diverse backgrounds to succeed academically and to be civically responsible global citizens." As a student-centered institution, it is important for the college to maintain a high level of quality in our academic programs, student affairs, and support services. Accreditation provides a regular means of ensuring that high quality, while also challenging the college to move beyond short-term thinking to develop truly sustainable, continuous quality improvement in all areas of the institution. As President Henry Yong told the college in his PDD address earlier this semester, we can succeed by bringing together vision and action.

Last fall, following submission of our Self Study, EVC hosted a visiting team from the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC). This team left the college with six commendations and five recommendations, as well as a number of district-centered recommendations. In January, ACCJC's Board elected to place the college on "Warning" status and require us to submit a Follow-up Report by October 15, 2011 to address the remaining recommendations. Through the hard work of EVC's Accreditation Steering Committee, writing teams, and resource team, as well as our colleagues at the San Jose-Evergreen Community College District (SJECCD), this report has been completed and is posted on EVC's Accreditation website. At every stage in this process, the Accreditation co-chairs and editor have sought the expertise of faculty, staff, students, and administrators from throughout the institution and have made regular updates for the college community at PDD Day events, College Council, Academic Senate, the Associated Students, and other shared governance committees and constituency groups. The process has been as transparent and participatory as possible. In short, it has been a team effort once again, and we want to thank everyone involved for your hard work!

The Follow-Up Report is a document of which we are very proud. It tells the story of EVC's recent progress towards fulfilling the challenges set forth in ACCJC's recommendations. Yet the majority of this work simply represents the logical next steps in a natural progression as the college continues to develop in several key areas. These include: (1) the development of an EVC Technology Master Plan to chart our priorities and needs in this area; (2) significant progress towards articulating and beginning to assess Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) at the course and program levels; (3) the launch of our integrated planning model, which brings together Strategic Planning, Program Review, and Budget and Resource Allocation, enabling a continuous flow of quality improvement through the Shared Governance process; and (4) the development of a college-wide Code of Ethics.

In addition, in response to the ACCJC district-centered recommendations, the SJECCD Chancellor convened several Accreditation Task Force committees comprised of EVC, SJCC, and District representatives. Since January, the Board of Trustees has taken tangible steps to address commission recommendations and concerns related to fiscal solvency, understanding the proper role of the board, and conducting self-evaluations. This work has included a Board Self Study Session and a meeting in which the Board hosted a presentation by ACCJC President Dr. Barbara Beno and Trustee William McGinnis from the Butte-Glenn Community College District (who is a member of EVC's Visiting Team). Finally, district and college personnel worked hard to provide a comprehensive and detailed function map, which clearly delineates district-college functions.

On November 8 and 9, EVC will host a 3-member visiting team from ACCJC. Prior to the visit, the team will receive an addendum to the report that highlights progress made in key areas between the filing of the Follow Up Report and their arrival. The team will verify the information in the Follow-Up Report and gauge EVC's progress towards fulfilling its recommendations. We are confident that our programs and services are being delivered to students at a high level of quality, and we look forward to continuing to share our story with the ACCJC visitors. We hope that the visiting team and ACCJC will recognize EVC has not merely prepared for a one-time visit. Instead, the people and processes are dedicated fully toward serving students and improving the quality of our work in meaningful ways for many years into the future.

Yours truly,

Keith, RJ, and Lisa

A-Z Index

Accreditation