Accreditation

LACC Commendations

1. The team commends the college for its commitment to sustainability and its plans to develop a state of the art energy management program.  The long-term plan for photo-voltaics on the new parking structure aims not only to get the college off the grid but also aims to sell energy, thereby generating income to help support maintenance of added square footage. 

2. The team commends the college for its sincere and substantive response to the 2003 recommendation that “administration, faculty, and staff renew their commitment to effective and timely communication.”  Documents and enthusiastic testimonials afforded evidence that great progress has been made not just in the transmission of information but also engagement in dialogue around important campus wide issues.  

LACC Recommendations & Outcomes for Spring 2010

1. Program Review for Institutional Improvement

"In order to increase institutional effectiveness and meet standards, the team recommends that the college more systematically use the results of program/unit reviews to continually refine and improve program practices resulting in appropriate improvements in student achievement, learning, support services, and institutional processes. (I.B.1-7; II.A.2; II.B.4; II.C.2; III.B.2; III.C.2; III.D.3; IV.A.5)".

• KEY OUTCOMES:
• Improved Institutional Effectiveness:  Evaluated existing processes, created SGC PR subcommittee that developed program review “modules” to increase the use of results; dialog and formative evaluations improved practices
• Increased Planning Proficiency of LACC: Clarified definitions and processes, provided training, better documentation and access to analysis and data to support program review
• Closed the Loop: College-wide planning summit; committees are using program review results for dialog, college planning, budget, management and decision making processes

2. Staff Development

"In order to meet the standards, the team recommends that the college develop a robust and comprehensive professional development program to both enhance institutional effectiveness practices and promote institutional engagement by all employee groups. (I.B; III.A.2; III.A.5, IV.A.5)."

• KEY OUTCOMES:
• Professional Development activities now focus more directly on institutional effectiveness, student learning outcomes, and planning and program review. 
• The Planning Agenda from the self study was fully addressed by the development of a website and the revision of the Shared Governance Handbook. 

4. Research

"To meet the standards, the team recommends that the college strengthen the research function in order to provide continuous and meaningful analysis of data and apply the finding to program improvement. (I.B.2-3; I.B.5-6; II.A.1.a; II.B.3.e; II.B.4; II.C.2; III.B.2; III.C.2; III.D.3)."

• KEY OUTCOMES:
• Increase Research Capacity of LACC:  Professional development for OIE, partnering with IRAC and the District Office and identifying best practices
• Improve Transparency and Accountability:  Increased effectiveness of the information infrastructure (the IE Portal – supporting Shared Governance)
• Enhance and Enable Analysis Capacity of LACC:  Create customized training, reporting and documentation systems

District Recommendations

1. In order to improve, the post-retirement health liability should be carefully monitored for the potential fiscal ramifications that could arise over the next few years (III.D.1.c).

• KEY OUTCOMES:
• $17.7 million contributed to the irrevocable trust as of December, 31 2009
•  Expect to reduce obligation by roughly $100 million as the result of renegotiating health benefits

2.  In order to improve, both the district and the college need to evaluate the consistent adherence in practice to the recently developed delineation of operational responsibilities and functions (IV.B.3.a).

• KEY OUTCOMES:
• Conducted  District Roles & Functions Assessment Survey
•  Revised District Office Service Outcomes & Committee Descriptions
• Revised of the Functional Map as the District Governance & Functions Handbook
• Expanded  Content of 2008 Functional Map, including
• All District-level governance and decision-making processes
• Consultation, Planning, and Accountability processes
• Constituency roles, etc.

3. Develop and implement methods for the evaluation of role delineation and governance and decision-making structures and processes for the college and the district.  Widely communicate the results of the evaluation and use those results as the basis for improvement (IV.B.3.g).

• KEY OUTCOMES:
• Conducted District-Level Governance and Decision-Making Assessment
• Conducted a District Governance Committee Self Evaluation Process (DBC, DPC, Bond Steering, JLMBC)
• Publication of the first biennial District Governance Assessment Report
• Governance materials included in new District Governance & Functions Handbook 
•  Instituted a new Board “District Effectiveness Review Cycle”