MADERA — The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) has granted the Madera Community College Center (MCCC) “candidacy,” which brings the Madera campus one step closer to being recognized as a full college.
The successful step in MCCC’s evolution to becoming an independent community college was announced late last week.
ACCJC accredits community colleges and other associate degree granting institutions in the Western region of the U.S.
Accreditation is a voluntary system of self-regulation developed to evaluate overall educational quality and institutional effectiveness. The ACCJC accreditation process provides assurance to the public that the accredited member colleges meet the s certain standards; the education earned at the institutions is of value to the student who earned it; and employers, trade or profession-related licensing agencies and other colleges and universities can accept a student’s credential as legitimate.
A 10-member accreditation team visited Madera Community College Center from October 21-24, 2019, to assess eligibility requirements, accreditation standards, commission policies and U.S. Department of Education regulations. The team found MCCC to be generally in compliance with all of the regulations.
The Commission has requested that MCCC demonstrate compliance in four areas:
- Establish institution-set standards for student achievement, appropriate to its mission, assess how well it is achieving them and publish this information
- Establish institutional learning outcomes in order to assess the accomplishment of its mission through program review and evaluation of goals and objectives
- Integrate program review planning and resource allocation into a comprehensive process that leads to accomplishment of its mission and improvement of institution effectiveness and academic quality
- Publish its own college catalog.
The Commission also is requesting that the college submit a follow up report which addresses the four areas no later than October 1, 2021. This will be followed by another site visit.
If successful, the Commission will then grant MCCC full college status. College officials have announced plans to align the Oakhurst Community College Center (OCCC) with MCCC once full college status is granted. OCCC is currently aligned with Reedley College.
Also, at its meeting held January 15–17, the Commission acted to Reaffirm Accreditation for the remainder of the cycle for all of the State Center Community College District colleges, Fresno City College, Reedley College and Clovis Community College.
The next report from the colleges will be due on October 15, 2022.
The institution’s next comprehensive review will occur in the spring term of 2025.
State Center Community College District includes three colleges — Fresno City College, Reedley College, Clovis Community College — and three “centers” –Madera and Oakhurst Community College and the Career and Technology Center.
There is a seven-member Board of Trustees which includes: Board President John Leal, Vice President Annalisa Perea, Secretary Magdalena Gomez, and Trustees, Richard M. Caglia, Deborah J. Ikeda, Bobby Kahn and Eric Payne.
