Says Commission’s Response Lacks Substance

The CFT is not surprised by the brief and dismissive reply issued yesterday in response to our third party comment to the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC).

“The accreditation process is extremely important in ensuring effectiveness and trust for public education at all levels. The dismissal of our complaint as ‘without merit’ by ACCJC is further proof that the agency overseeing community college accreditation lacks transparency and any capacity for self-critical analysis,” said Joshua Pechthalt, CFT president. “We are extremely troubled by the way ACCJC has steered the accreditation process away from those values.”

The CFT will continue to push to return the agency responsible for accrediting community colleges in California to transparency and accountability to the public.

The ACCJC’s six-page response ducks most of the complaint’s substance. In response to the complaint’s documentation of violation of federal regulations, the ACCJC simply says, it “is not a court of law,” and ignores the substantive issues raised.

Ultimately, the ACCJC is unwilling to hear any criticism, as it places more than one in five community colleges on sanction, diverting precious resources from the job of educating students to “compliance” with its demands.

“The students of California’s community colleges and the taxpayers who support them deserve far better,” said CFT President Pechthalt, one of the signatories to the complaint. “We will do what we can to make sure that the accreditation process for California community colleges helps and doesn’t harm public education.”