Northwest Commission on College and Universities (NWCCU)
Annual Update for WSQA
Academic Year 2014-15
Due November 6, 2015
College name: Whatcom Community College
Contact person: Ed Harri, Dean for Instruction
Contact phone: (360) 383-3222
Contact email: eharri@whatcom.ctc.edu
WCC’s time line for its most recent NWCCU visits and reports is as follows:
March 2015: Ad hoc self-evaluation report (in response to one recommendation about the external financial audit from year three report)
March 2014: Year three report (WCC had four commendations and two recommendations)
October 2012: Report and visit regarding WCC’s three recommendations from April 2011 (WCC had one recommendation)
February 2012: Year one report (WCC had two recommendations)
April 2011: Comprehensive year seven report and visit (WCC had five commendations and three recommendations)
Submitted 10-19-2015
As a result of the year three report, in June 2014, the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities made the following two
recommendations to Whatcom Community College.1
Accreditation
recommendations to
the College (both
recommendations
were made in June
2014)
1. While
acknowledging
that Whatcom
Community
College has made
significant
progress in the
identification and
publication of
course, program,
and degree
learning outcomes,
the College must
ensure that
outcomes exist for
all courses.
Further, the
College must
ensure that
assessment
measures are in
place for these
outcomes at the
1
Actions taken by the college to address recommendations
Improvement results
WCC has made substantial advancement in identifying and assessing student learning at the
course, program, and college levels.
Faculty are talking
with one another
about assessment and
learning outcomes.
They are also making
clearer connections
between their
learning outcomes,
teaching and learning
activities, and
assessments. WCC
continues to work on
identifying and
assessing college,
program, and course
level outcomes. For
the 2015-16 academic
year, WCC will
continue offering a
series of workshops
for faculty that
specifically focus on
course outcomes
At the course level, progress occurred during 2014-15 in creating consistent outcomes for all
sections taught by all instructors of a course. 99.7% (368/369) of all courses offered in winter
2015 have course outcomes in the queue to be approved and the goal is to have 100% of the
course outcomes approved by the end of the academic year. Almost all full-time faculty and
some adjunct faculty are now formally trained in writing course outcomes. During 2014-15,
WCC offered an intensive workshop about strategies for active learning and teaching. All
participating faculty in the 16 hour long workshop developed a course outcomes report
documenting the assessment of a course outcome. This report outlines the course outcome
formally assessed, the names of the graded assignments, the teaching and learning strategies
used, the results of the assessment, and the next steps (how the results will be used to improve
student learning). These reports were reviewed by the faculty outcomes assessment
coordinator and director for assessment and institutional research, and feedback was provided
to each faculty. As of April 2015, the course outcomes report (assessing one course outcome)
is now embedded in and is a requirement of the annual full-time and adjunct faculty
professional plan and report, which creates a systematic and ongoing assessment and
improvement process.
At the program level, during 2014-15, all 14 professional-technical programs revised their
program outcomes and curriculum maps and submitted a program outcomes report assessing
one program outcome (similar to the course outcomes report).
At the college level, WCC refers to its outcomes as core learning abilities (CLAs). WCC’s
Most supporting evidence in this report and all accreditation reports are posted on the office of assessment and institutional research’s website
(http://www.faculty.whatcom.ctc.edu/InstResearch/index.htm). This information is used widely by faculty, administrators, and staff for decision making
campus-wide.
2
Accreditation
recommendations to
the College (both
recommendations
were made in June
2014)
course, program
and degree level
(Standards 2.C.2;
4.A.3 and
Eligibility
Requirement 22;
continuation of
Recommendation
1 of the fall 2012
Ad-Hoc Peer
Evaluation
Report).
Note: WCC is
substantially in
compliance with
these criteria and
will report on its
progress in the
year seven report
in 2019.
2. Whatcom
Community
College has not
had an external
financial audit
since 2009. The
evaluation
committee
recommends that
for each year of
operation, the
College undergo
Actions taken by the college to address recommendations
Improvement results
CLAs are communication, critical thinking, global consciousness, information literacy, and
quantitative literacy. During 2014-15, WCC faculty, through the outcomes assessment
committee and in consultation with the curriculum committee, refined professional-technical
CLA curriculum maps and posted new CLA (critical thinking) posters in all classrooms and
student meeting spaces. In 2014-15, a subcommittee of the outcomes assessment committee
reviewed the information literacy (IL) assessment results from the previous year and presented
its findings at the February professional development day. In 2014-15, IL and critical thinking
(CT) were formally assessed – every discipline/program that was scheduled for program/
discipline improvement process review and that had IL and CT mapped courses submitted an
IL or CT report assessing IL or CT. A subcommittee of the outcomes assessment committee
will be reviewing the IL and CT assessment results and presenting its findings at the February
2016 professional development day. Faculty selected global consciousness as the 2015-16
CLA and refined its definition and selected its rubric.
Finally, the College is using CurricUNET software to track course, program, and college
outcomes and assist with managing curriculum revisions. This software provides an effective
means for gathering and using data to support an evidence-based and student-centered
approach to decision-making and teaching and learning and upholding educational standards.
development; rubric
design and
connecting learning
activities and
assessments to
outcomes; and active
teaching and learning
methodologies.
Faculty are beginning
to use their
assessment results to
improve teaching and
learning and to
document this
process at the course,
program, and college
levels.
In order to achieve standard 2.F.7, the College has met three important milestones. WCC has
developed an inaugural set of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted
accounting principles, contracted with professionally qualified personnel through the
Washington State Auditor’s Office (SAO) to audit the financial statements, and reviewed and
considered the results of the financial statement audit in a timely, appropriate and
comprehensive manner with the College’s administration and Board.
Throughout the
development and
auditing of the
College’s inaugural
set of financial
statements, key
financial staff
College financial staff attended a financial statement preparation workshop hosted by the State
members have gained
Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) in August 2014. Once financial
experience and
statement templates were produced and provided by the SBCTC, WCC began developing its
information in
inaugural set of financial statements for fiscal year (FY) 2013-14. These statements were
preparing
completed in March 2015. Upon conclusion of a third-party audit of the financial statements
institutional financial
by SAO, the financial statements were published on the College’s public website.
3
Accreditation
recommendations to
the College (both
recommendations
were made in June
2014)
an external
financial audit and
that the results
from such audits,
including findings
and management
letter
recommendations,
be considered in a
timely,
appropriate, and
comprehensive
manner by the
Board of Trustees
(Standard 2.F.7
and Eligibility
Requirement 19).
Actions taken by the college to address recommendations
Improvement results
The College contracted with professionally qualified personnel through the Washington State
Auditor’s Office (SAO) to audit the financial statements, with the official agreement executed
in January 2015. SAO initiated its audit fieldwork at WCC on March 18, 2015, and completed
the fieldwork in May 2015.
statements. The WCC
financial team has
become well-versed
in the appropriate
restatement of
activities and drafting
of localized financial
statements.
SAO conducted the financial statement audit using generally accepted governmental auditing
standards as promulgated in the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s Government
Auditing Standards (the “Yellow Book”). Washington state law establishes SAO as the
auditor of public accounts. SAO employees are experienced in auditing public universities’
business-type activity financial statements, as they have audited five of Washington’s six
public four-year colleges since GASB 34 became effective in 2002 and numerous community
and technical colleges over the past18 months.
The College’s exit meeting was held on June 16, 2015, and was attended by the SAO audit
team; the College’s business and financial staff; and executive management including WCC’s
president, vice president for administrative services, and a Board of Trustee’s representative.
At the exit meeting, WCC received the auditor’s report, including an unmodified (“clean”)
opinion.
The College reviewed and considered the results of the financial statement audit in a timely,
appropriate and comprehensive manner by the College’s administration and Board. At the
Board of Trustees’ regular public board meeting held on February 18, 2015, an overview was
provided on financial statement development progress, audit process, and timeline.
Upon completion of the third-party audit of the College’s financial statements by SAO, a
review was conducted by WCC financial managers with WCC’s Board of Trustees and
college administrators. As required by auditing standards, the SAO audit team presented its
report to college management and the governing Board. This took place at the audit exit
meeting held on June 16, 2015, in the presence of the college president, a Board member, the
College’s financial managers and key members of the administration. The audit report was
then distributed to the Board of Trustees. Further, information from the exit meeting was
shared with the Board members during the July 8, 2015, Board meeting for review,
consideration, and discussion of the audit results.
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Administration and
board members have
gained experience in
analyzing and
interpreting college
financial statements.
Audited college
financial statements
are now posted
publicly.
With improvements
in process and
training, the College
expects to begin
preparation of the
fiscal year 2014-15
financial statements
in November 2015
and begin contract for
audit services with
SAO in February
2016.