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Accreditation

Mt. Hood Community College (MHCC) is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU), the accrediting body of colleges and universities in the Pacific Northwest. Accreditation is the oldest and best known assurance of higher education quality.

MHCC's most recent full scale accreditation evaluation occurred in October 2007, when a team of peers reviewed the College's self study. The team reported its findings to the NWCCU.

The College's accreditation status was reaffirmed by the NWCCU as a result of the visit. The reaffirmation included four recommendations and the expectation these issues would be resolved by the time of the October 26, 2009 interim visit. An interim report describing the College's progress to address the recommendations has been provided to evaluator Mary Carr and the NWCCU.

Recommendations

1. The Evaluation team recommends that the college fully develop its new planning process to provide evidence of a clear link between systematic evaluation activities and ongoing planning activities to influence resource allocation and to demonstrate continuous improvement. While planning occurs at various levels, the Committee did not find evidence that the institution systematically applies evaluation and planning procedures, assesses the extent to which it fulfills its mission and achieves its goals, and connects the planning process to resource allocation. In addition, the committee found limited evidence that the college periodically uses information from its planning and evaluation processes to communicate evidence of institutional effectiveness to its public. The new planning process instituted in 2006, will link college-wide goals/priorities to departmental plans and resource allocation. At the time of the visit, most employees were being introduced to the new planning process. (Eligibility Requirement 17 and Standard 1.B.4)

2. The Evaluation team recommends that the college address deferred maintenance of facilities. This was also noted in the 1997 report, which indicated that deferred maintenance was problematic. As noted by the college in the 2007 self study, and confirmed by the evaluation team, this continues to be an issue of safety and health. The college should address the integrity of building structures to ensure that programmatic needs are met. (Standard 8.A.4)

3. The educational assessment model is well designed and learning outcomes have been developed and published for all degrees. At the program level, learning outcomes are beginning to be assessed. The committee found limited evidence that students who complete programs have met all learning outcomes. The evaluation team recommends that the college fully develop its educational assessment plan in all educational programs and degrees. (Policy 2.2; Standard 2.b.2, 2.B.3)

4. The Evaluation Team recommends that the college implement a systematic program of academic advisement. Structures need to be established that encourage meaningful participation of faculty and staff in a collaborative effort to strengthen advising support to students. The Student Development Services-Advising Center should perform a review of policies and procedures as well as a review of office configuration in relation to student confidentiality of records. Further, a system that facilitates two-way communication between faculty and staff, and an improved alignment of advising loads is suggested. (3.D.10, 2.C.5, 4.A.2)

The current accreditation process involves nine standards, follows a ten year cycle and is driven by describing an institution's practices to prove its compliance with NWCCU standards. A new approach being introduced in 2010 will include five standards, follow a seven year cycle and emphasize planning, assessment and continuous improvement, all of which must be interwoven throughout the institution, its processes and operations. These elements describe the new process:

Section A: Purpose and Potential

Each institution will define its core themes based on its mission, and all core themes will be supported by the college's values. Each core theme, their goals and intended outcomes will be assessed to determine the college's success in meeting its mission.

A report for standard one will be submitted in year one for review by a committee of evaluators and the Commission.

Within this standard, institutions will answer questions such as: In what ways does it support its core themes through resources (governance, financial, student services, etc.)? Are the core themes sustainable given the resources available?

The report submitted in year one will be expanded to include standard two, with a visit to address standards one and two. This will occur in year three.

Section B: Plans and Achievements

Each core theme will be evaluated within the context of planning, which must provide direction, set priorities and guide resource allocation throughout the institution.

Regular and systematic assessment of goal and outcome achievement for each of the core themes occurs under this standard.

In year five the report on standards one and two will be expanded to include standards three and four, and will be reviewed by a committee of evaluators and the Commission.

Section C: Institutional Success and Viability

Effectiveness in achieving goals and intended outcomes of its core themes is analyzed here.

The aforementioned report will be expanded to include standard five, with a visit in year seven to address standards three, four and five.

As with the 2007 self study process, the entire College community will have opportunities to participate in and support the new process. Please contact Nancy Szofran at Nancy.Szofran@mhcc.edu or 503-491-6924 for more information.