PROMOTING PROFESSIONAL
RESPONSIBILITY IN AN AGE
OF ACCOUNTABILITY
Wheeler North,
San Diego Miramar College,
ASCCC Treasurer
Phil R. Smith,
American River College,
ASCCC At-Large Representative
2012 Leadership Institute
Introduction to Accountability
I’M MAKING YOU FULLY ACCOUNTABLE FOR THIS.
GREAT! BY GIVING ME FULL DECISION RIGHTS,
ACCESS TO ALL RELEVANT INFORMATION,
AND ENOUGH RESOURCES, BUDGET AND TIME
TO DELIVER WHAT’S REQUIRED?
ER, NOT EXACTLY.
Accountability Initiatives
(Major) Accountability Initiatives



Accountability Reporting for the California Community
Colleges (ARCC)
(and, no, we don’t know why one of the C’s is missing
either…)
Accreditation’s Student Learning Outcomes (SLO)
Assessment

K-12’s No Child Left Behind

And more on the way…
Why is the accountability movement
getting bigger?
Two Possible Reasons
ONE:
Two Possible Reasons
TWO:
Politics



TERM LIMITS
CONTINUOUS CAMPAIGN
CYCLE
NEED READILY AVAILABLE
DATA
Politics (Cont’d)
The Campaign for
College
Opportunity
Politics (Cont’d): The Zero Sum Game
Politics (Cont’d): Zero-Sum Game
University of Phoenix
University of California
Kaplan University
California State University
ITT Technical Institute
California Community Colleges
Regardless, Senate Leaders Are Here
Fortunately For Us…
Academia already operates with
responsibility, trust, and accountability:

Peer Review

Peer Evaluation

Scientific Method
Some Strategies for Senate Leaders
When talking with faculty colleagues…
Some Strategies for Senate Leaders
When talking with administrative colleagues…
Responsibility Versus Accountability
RESPONSIBILITY



Internal, SelfDirected
ACCOUNTABILITY

External, Other-Directed

Post-Event

Cannot Be Delegated
Pre-Event
Can Be Delegated
Accountability in Medicine
Accountability in Education
Accountability in Education
SOMEWHAT MORE COMPLICATED
TO DETERMINE IN AN EDUCATIONAL CONTEXT



Who should be held accountable?
Students as human beings have choices about their
learning.
What measurements/metrics of learning should be
used for accountability?
Promoting Professional Responsibility



10+1 Academic and Professional Matters
Academic Senates help formulate general
guidelines related to professional responsibilities.
Academic Senates should avoid the “enforcer role”
with individual colleagues.
Simulation 1
Colleagues in a particular department are
not updating their course outlines of
records. The Vice President of Instruction
and the Curriculum Chair complain to you
about the situation. As an academic senate
leader, what do you do?
Simulation 2
A colleague is not teaching to the official
course outline of record. The peer
evaluation team comes to you as senate
president and also to your union president.
What do you do from a senate point of
view?
Simulation 3
On principle, one of your colleagues
refuses to participate in student learning
outcome (SLO) assessment activities. The
accreditation chair that you appointed on
behalf of the senate comes to you with this
information. What steps do you take?