Accreditation
Our Mission
Los Angeles Harbor College fosters learning through comprehensive programs that meet the educational needs of the community as measured by student success, personal and institutional accountability, and integrity.
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 are coordinating the preparation of that report with the widest possible involvement. To that end in spring 2010 ten standard committees (composed of faculty, staff, students and administrators) organized and met at least three times throughout the semester. The first order of business was to revisit the Planning Agenda Items from Harbor's 2006 Self-Study. After examining and responding to these items the committees then addressed specific standard questions designed by the ACCJC to direct our 2012 study. As all committees continue to meet throughout 2010-12 we will be seeking advice and consensus from many of you in terms of how we actually can “connect the dots”- creating a climate that links dialogue, planning and assessment with college-wide improvement. We look forward to working with all of you in this joint endeavor.
Jim Stanbery, Ellen Joiner - Accreditation Coordinators
