Accreditation in the California Community Colleges

1. Accreditation in the California Community Colleges Nathan Tharp, Ed.D. Digital Technology Instructor/Program Coordinator Feather River College ntharp@frc.edu • Influential Cultural Practices 1

2. Accreditation trends 2000s: Student learning outcomes 1788: Constitution 1887: NEASC 1926: WASC 1950s: Goal/path model adopted 1965: Financial aid linked 1980s: High loan default rate 1980s: Institutional effectiveness None > Baseline > Aspirational > Accountable

3. Colleges since 2003 Too many California community colleges struggle with accreditation

4. Accreditation Related Research • Existing Research • Policy • Purpose: from legitimacy to accountability • Standards: similar, reflect changes in purpose, sanction level consistent, significant support, autonomy • State policies: mixed, regs valuable but cause conflicts • Environmental Factors • Timing in cycle • Location: mixed results • Size: mixed, mid size • Perceptions: • Universal: valuable, low implementation • Group mediated: role, involvement, effect. vs. quality • Individual conflict: accountability vs. quality • Practices: • Engagement: improves adoption level • Leadership: strong leaders are influential • Institutional research: key component • Organizational models: AQIP/Baldridge impact preparedness LITERATURE REVIEW Gaps in Research practices not linked to accreditation results • recommendations not based on evidence • contextually bound studies • few studies on California community colleges •

5. Nature of the study • Cultural practices at the institutional level influence accreditation processes and results. • Research Questions: • What are some of the cultural practices present in colleges that consistently have their accreditation reaffirmed? • What are some of the cultural practices present in colleges that have consistently been placed on sanction? • How do these practices compare and contrast? • Filling the gaps • Examines and identifies practices may influence accreditation results • Provides recommendations based on evidence • Accounts for context • Focuses on California community colleges

6. Nature of the Study • Purpose • Reduce the number of sanctions on California Community Colleges by: • informing campus leaders • influence accreditation policy makers • increasing institutional effectiveness • provide grounded findings for further research RESEARCH PROPOSAL

7. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Using activity as the unit of analysis for understanding cultural practices • Activity Theory • cultural-historical approach • tools mediate behavior in cultural contexts • object oriented activity as the unit of analysis • tensions and disturbances propel the system • inter-system relations Tools/Artifacts Subject Transformation Object Rules /norms Division of Labor Community Activity System Outcome Outcome Subject Object Outcome Outcome Outcome Subject Object Subject Object Subject Object Subject Object

8. Interacting systems Nested Activity Tools/Artifacts Parallel Activity Object Serial Activity Serial Activity Observed Activity Outcome Outcome Subject Object Outcome Outcome Outcome Subject Object Subject Object Subject Object Subject Object

9. METHODOLOGY Qualitative Case Study of Four Institutions • Two with five or more sanctions since 2003 (X colleges) • Two that have two contiguous reaffirmations since 2003 (Y colleges) • Unstructured interviews with 14 participants who varied according to role, tenure, and degree of involvement • Colleges with common accreditation results were compared. • Commonalities between colleges that have been placed on multiple sanctions were compared against those that have not. 5+ Sanctions No Sanctions College X1 College Y1 Differences? Similarities? Similarities? College X2 College Y2 College A College C College B College D Re-accredited On Warning or Probation Differences? Outcome Similarities? Similarities? Outcome Subject Object Outcome Outcome Outcome Subject Object Subject Object Subject Object Subject Object

10. METHODOLOGY Participant selection College A College C College B College D Re-accredited On Warning or Probation Differences? Outcome Similarities? Similarities? Outcome Subject Object Outcome Outcome Outcome Subject Object Subject Object Subject Object Subject Object

11. Some Limitations • focuses only on differences between two California community colleges that have been succeeding and two that have been struggling • not examining accreditation policies nor ACCJC practices • not establishing “universal” findings • not testing compliance DATA ANALYSIS Outcome Outcome Subject Object Outcome Outcome Outcome Subject Object Subject Object Subject Object Subject Object

12. DATA ANALYSIS Themes Division of Labor How the work of a particular activity is divided up amongst a community; the establishment of roles and responsibilities Motivation The reason for taking and action; willingness or desire to do something Integration Combining multiple parts into a whole; coming into participation in an a group or institution

13. FINDINGS Theme 1: Division of Labor Text

14. FINDINGS Theme 2: Division of labor quotes Role definition: “The senate [is] on one side…saying faculty must do SLOs…you have the union, who on their website…says, ‘faculty do not Have to do SLOs.’” Role definition: “[We’ve] had a board that has worked well for a long time…I bet it's been 40 years of strong involvement, but boards that knew their role. Haven't micromanaged.” Conflict: “They said, ‘It doesn’t matter if we lose accreditation. We'll be taken over by somebody else. That just means the administration will be gone, but we'll still be here.’” Conflict resolution: “If we start to lean away from [a shared governance topic], we each have a yellow card, and we can hold the yellow card up and say, ‘Caution, this is veering away from a [shared governance] issue.’” Conflict: “there was a bit of a ‘none of the recommendations are related to instruction. The problems are with the administration of the institution.’”

15. FINDINGS Theme 2: Motivation

16. FINDINGS Theme 2: Motivation quotes Importance: “You live and die by staying accredited. [We] all know it's important.” Importance: “We saw ourselves more as kind of an exclusive, stand-alone institution…we don't have to abide by the regulations..” Locus of motivation: “I think people are really proud of what we have here. So they take personal ownership. If we were put on warning, we would fall back and get out of it. You learn from your mistakes.” Locus of motivation: “[The ACCJC] representative said,] ‘I knew you needed a stick,’ because it was just how hard she had to push us.” Locus of motivation: The college “[did] it for accreditation,” rather than, “because it's the right thing to do.” Enforcement: “If somebody wants to go and develop curriculum…and they go somewhere [other than curriculum committee]…we say, ‘No.’”

17. FINDINGS Theme 3: Integration

18. FINDINGS Theme 2: Integration quotes Contact: “The faculty senate…is sending in three names. The president will interview [them] and select one faculty as the co-chair. We are looking 2-3 years ahead.” Contact: “I walked in new...I took [being the accreditation chair] on. To be honest, I kind of stumbled through it.” Integrity: “Program review is the way to ensure money.” Integrity: “[It’s] a one-and-a-half year long process…to get funding for an idea…you could submit a strategic proposal…but there was only $100,000.” Interconnectedness: [the campus community] accepted recent cuts because of “the culture of inclusiveness…they [were] at the table when all of these decisions are made.”’ Interconnectedness: “[the college] would say, ‘oh yeah…transparency, production, dialogue’ but then not take action. “

19. INTERPRETATION Division of Labor Tool Campus activity system Subject Accreditation Rules/Norms Division of Labor Community Accreditation activity system Outcome Outcome Subject Object Outcome Outcome Outcome Subject Object Subject Object Subject Object Subject Object

20. INTERPRETATION Motivation quality improvement Senate working conditions Accreditation Union Accreditation activity system institution sustainability Admin Outcome Outcome Subject Object Outcome Outcome Outcome Subject Object Subject Object Subject Object Subject Object

21. INTERPRETATION Integration Accreditation Tools Subject Accreditation Campus Rules/Norms Division of Labor Community Accreditation activity system Outcome Outcome Subject Object Outcome Outcome Outcome Subject Object Subject Object Subject Object Subject Object

22. INTERPRETATION Summary Campus Motivation Group A Group B Tools Division ofLabor Group C Subject Accreditation Integration = tension points that appear more resolved in Y schools than X schools. Division of Labor Rules Community Accreditation activity system Outcome Outcome Subject Object Outcome Outcome Outcome Subject Object Subject Object Subject Object Subject Object

23. Recommendations for campus leaders • Division of Labor • Define underlying campus-wide roles and responsibilities and abide by them. • Consistently resolve conflict related to role definition. • Motivation • Establish accreditation as important. • Account for group-mediated perceptions of accreditation importance. • Reframe accreditation as an internally motivated activity. • Enforce accreditation activities. • Maintain a critical mass of motivated individuals and groups. • Integration • Maintain ongoing contact with accreditation processes. • Develop accreditation tools that align with campus rules/norms/customs. • Maintain the integrity of accreditation processes. • Interconnect parties across the institution with formal and informal accreditation processes. • Prioritize resources for accreditation.

24. Supplemental Slides 24

25. Validation • Multi-site design • Site selection: variance and confirming • Participant selection: variance and confirming • Member checking • Framework triangulation: activity and grounded theory • Finding triangulation • three or more sites • three or more participants, one from contrasting site RESEARCH METHODS College A College C College B College D Re-accredited On Warning or Probation Differences? Outcome Similarities? Similarities? Outcome Subject Object Outcome Outcome Outcome Subject Object Subject Object Subject Object Subject Object

26. DATA ANALYSIS Data coding Sample excerpt Q: How does that [conflict] get resolved? “Usually by a change in leadership in one of the other organizations.  And it's tended to be at the margins.  There are somethings that are clearly senate business, and other things that are clearly union business. But there are these things in the gray areas where maybe both have some claim to them.  And the problems I've seen have been where one or the other party encroaches to the point where the other organization feels like somebody's on their turf.” • 600+ excerpts from dialog • Activity theory • Grounded theory • 1800+ codes • 200+ unique codes Text conflict resolution leadership division of labor Sample codes College A College C College B College D Re-accredited On Warning or Probation Differences? Outcome Similarities? Similarities? Outcome Subject Object Outcome Outcome Outcome Subject Object Subject Object Subject Object Subject Object

27. DATA ANALYSIS Theme development • 33 unique codes occurred 10 or more times, accounted for 55% of all codes, and were selected as the base group • codes consolidated by collapsing related codes into more frequently occurring codes • The top 33 unique codes collapsed into 6 primary themes • Division of labor • Motivation • Change • Leadership • Integration • Tools • Returned to data and sought differences between A and B colleges for each theme Text College A College C College B College D Re-accredited On Warning or Probation Differences? Outcome Similarities? Similarities? Outcome Subject Object Outcome Outcome Outcome Subject Object Subject Object Subject Object Subject Object

28. DATA ANALYSIS Subtheme Development • Imported 400 direct quotes into text editor, ~130 per theme • Clustered similar quotes by drag and drop • To be consider meaningful, quotes had to be confirmed by: • 3 or more quotes • 3 more participants • 3 or more colleges • 4 subthemes per theme • Findings substantiated by direct 200+ quotes

29. LITERATURE REVIEW California community college system • Largest higher education system in the United States • 2.5 million students,112 colleges, 72 districts • Mission: two-year degrees, preparation for transfer to 4-yr, career and technical education, and life-long learning • High degree of local autonomy LITERATURE REVIEW