Monterey Peninsula College is on probation for two years after an accreditation commission determined the school is out of compliance with 15 different standards, according to a letter dated Feb. 3.
The college has until March 15, 2018, to comply with all standards and retain its future accreditation.
MPC President Dr. Walt Tribley says the college received the letter and a 78-page report on late Monday afternoon and it is being carefully studied.
Promising a more in-depth response after further analysis, he says in the meantime the message is, “Our college is fully accredited and our degrees are strong and well respected.”
The report detailed 22 separate recommendations made by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.
An evaluation team visited MPC between Oct. 10-13, 2016, for a routine accreditation reaffirmation visit. It reported its findings to the Accrediting Commission at a meeting held Jan. 11-13.
Based on the team visit, the commission “acted to delay reaffirmation, impose probation, and require a follow-up report on the issues identified in the team’s findings of noncompliance at the college,” a letter from Richard Winn, the commission’s interim president, states.
“Probation indicates that the Commission has determined the institution has deviated significantly from the standards,” he writes.
"While the College must address all compliance recommendations, the Commission wishes to emphasize that the reason for the sanction is due to non-compliance in the following areas: student learning outcomes for instruction and student support services, planning and evaluation, technology infrastructure, and financial resources," Winn states.
Winn highlights six of the 22 recommendations in the specific areas. Two of the recommendations focus on implementing software to better track student learning outcomes.
In one case, the commission says MPC needs to be able to extract achievement data for distinct groups of students, and identify any performance gaps. In another, MPC needs to “assess learning outcomes for all instructional programs and student and learning support services.”
Another recommendation focuses on MPC improving its evaluation of student support and learning services at its satellite campuses in Marina and Seaside, as well as through online distance learning.
The report also identifies “network vulnerabilities,” and recommends MPC implement “a firewall solution in order for the college to ensure its technology infrastructure is appropriate and adequate to support the institution’s management and operational functions.”
Tribley says the report outlines many “timely” points the college has already been addressing in recent months. He says he met with campus leaders on Tuesday, assigning various parts of the report to different departments for study and action.
"Transparency is key,” Tribley adds, and says accreditation will be on the agenda at every MPC Board of Trustees meeting between now and the March 2018 deadline.
Transparency is also mandated by the accrediting commission, which requires that all institutions on probation disclose that fact to the public. The letter specifically states that accreditation information must be "no more than one click" from an institution's website home page.
The MPC site did not have the report listed as of Wednesday afternoon; Tribley says if its not up already, it will be very soon.
In addition, the commission told Tribley that the report will be listed in the Directory of Accredited Institutions.
MPC has until the end of this month to post a response to the report.