The committee voted to award eight commendations to the school based on the Oct. 23 draft of the study’s final results.
Dr. Dorothy Haecker, Director of the Palo Alto Self Study, compared the four levels of evaluation used by the committee to a student’s grade report. “A commendation is like an ‘A+.’ A finding of compliance is a ‘B,’ compliance with suggestions is a ‘C’ and noncompliance is an ‘F,’” said Haecker.
Haecker said that commendations put the college in a better position to be reaccredited. “Clean and clear,” she said. “No probation, no warning period, no conditions—which is where we want to be.”
Palo Alto’s eight commendations are in the areas of Student Services, Educational Programs, Faculty and Library. The library received five of the eight commendations.
Daniel Rodriguez, Associate Professor/Counselor and Chair of Counseling at Palo Alto, served as chair of the Library Committee. He explained that the committee is awarding the Ozuna Learning Resource Center its commendations for exceeding the SACS library criteria.
“I think the library commendations say a lot about how important we feel that education is,” said Rodriguez, “and a significant part of education is research…and access to good research materials.”
Luis Mercado, Palo Alto’s Outreach Services Specialist, chaired the Student Development Services Committee. He explained that SACS evaluative criteria only address five large departments under Student Services.
Mercado said the committee is rewarding Student Services for being exceptional because so many other areas stand out at Palo Alto. Within those five major subject areas, Palo Alto offers 17 different services and programs to students.
The Interdisciplinary Studies Department received the faculty commendation. Haecker said the department, which prepares students for careers in elementary education, is one of the college’s biggest majors and most successful transfer programs.
“The elementary education people got themselves together and created the set of criteria for hiring faculty that is above and beyond SACS criteria,” she said.
The final commendation is in the area of academic atmosphere and learning environment.
“That means Palo Alto is a place to learn,” she said. “Something about this place is giving students the feeling that faculty and counselors care about whether or not students learn.”
Haecker emphasized that commendations are within the charge of the Self Study to “demonstrate strengths as well as weaknesses.”
“Noncompliance looks like it has more of an impact, but we can’t downgrade this commendation business,” she said. “That’s where we say, ‘Listen, we’re not just an average school here—we’ve got some excellence.’”
Haecker stressed that the committee made careful judgments that can be proven to SACS with hard evidence. “We have to have a huge amount of documentation,” she said.
Haecker also referred to the current commendations as “eight and counting.” She said that official readers are going over the results and making recommendations for more before the college president approves the final draft, which will be mailed to SACS in December.
A 13 member team from SACS will arrive at Palo Alto in March of 2002 to evaluate the Self Study’s findings. They will double-check the commendations and decide whether or not to issue their own.
The Self Study Committee is planning student meetings and other publicity to highlight the results of the study and to prepare students for the SACS on-site team.
“We have got to prepare the entire campus for this visit,” said Haecker.