INSTITUTION: Los Angeles Mission College

Los Angeles Mission College is one of nine colleges in the Los Angeles Community College District. Since its inception in 1975, the College has experienced many difficulties: lack of a campus site, inconsistent leadership, and severe financial cutbacks throughout the district. Since the last accreditation visit in 1995, Los Angeles Mission College has had to overcome major challenges that included a period of declining fiscal resources and persistent turnover in top administration. In the last six years, the college has had three presidents and three vice presidents of academic affairs. A permanent college president was only recently appointed in the July of 2000. An interim Dean of Academic Services has recently been appointed and the much-anticipated position of Vice President of Academic Services remains unfilled.

The College has completed the construction of its new Library and Learning Resource Center and has begun construction on a new Collaborative Studies Building. The Los Angeles Community College district is also in the process of placing a $1.245 billion bond on the April ballot. Should they be successful, Los Angeles Mission College will receive approximately $111 million to completely build out their entire 22-acre campus.

Los Angeles Mission College has a variety of programs and student support programs that do an outstanding job of meeting the needs of the students and community. However, the team found a lack of an overall educational plan to expand and increase programs based on the current and future needs of the students that will allow the college to plan for strategic growth in the future.

In general, the overall physical plant is well maintained. However, it is clear that the physical buildings are not adequate for the college’s current population and the growth that it is experiencing each year. There is also a lack of adequate parking available for students which will only be exacerbated in the coming years. The team can only wish the college/district well in their efforts to obtain funding of a major bond measure on the April ballot. Should this bond pass it will bring a much needed massive infusion to the college for new construction and improvement of facilities.

The previous team’s evaluation report reflected a lack of planning, serious fiscal instability, and a clear delineation of functions and responsibilities between the college and the district. Since that period however, it must be noted that there have been a marked change and improvement in all of these areas in the college and district.

The previous planning efforts for the college can only be described as ominous. There were two formal master plans developed by separate consulting firms resulting in confusion, frustration and a lack of understanding by the college community, thus providing no clear direction for the college. Currently, the college has developed, through its Master Planning Committee, an Assessment and Planning and Institutional Effectiveness process that integrates educational, financial, facility and human resources. This new process has been developed to be an on-going, systematic process built upon established measurable outcomes that can be evaluated and tracked. While the team was very impressed with the work and diligence, which the college has shown in developing this process, it is a new process and not yet fully implemented. Because of this, and the concerns of the prior accrediting team on this issue, the team is including a major recommendation on planning that we believe will keep the College focused on achieving its very positive planning direction. One particular concern to the team is the strengthening of the research function in terms of both its staffing and the computer systems that support this highly research-based planning process. The existing staff has done an outstanding job in the development phase that should hold them in very good stead in the years to come. The team also recommends continual integration of the physical facilities plan with the educational master plan and also recommends that the college re-examine the issue of classroom utilization during non-peak periods as a means of meeting current and future student demand.

As with the planning function, there have been great strides in the fiscal stability of the district and, thus, the college. The budget process has been decentralized and a District Budget Allocation Model has been developed that allocates revenue directly to the colleges on an FTES basis. While this allocation model has generally been advantageous to the college, modifications still remain to be made. The team recommends that the college and district continue reviewing this new allocation model.

The team was impressed with the dedication and commitment of the new President and her emphasis on planning and an inclusive governance process. Though new to the College, she demonstrates a leadership style that strives to involve all. This cannot be accomplished in a vacuum however, and the team encourages the full participation of all the constituencies and makes a recommendation to continue strengthening the active involvement of all groups.

At the District level, a strong leadership team among the College Presidents and the new Chancellor appears to be changing the way the colleges and district operate. This Cabinet plans and reviews major policy items and directions for the colleges. This new direction of empowering the College Presidents has also extended to other District staff who now work more closely with the Presidents. While this is clearly a positive direction, it also involves much time on the part of the President to be away from the College. The team noted that there is some dissatisfaction among the college staff that the District is taking to much time of their President away from the College, thus not allowing her to focus on the college. The team would encourage the college to understand that this new stronger role of the presidents under the new district decentralized plan will be beneficial to the college in the long run.

In summary, the accreditation team found Los Angeles Mission College to be a very different one from the college observed by the previous team. Mission College is in a period of dynamic change and transition. Certainly there are still problems, challenges, structures to be institutionalized. With the appointment of its new President, the accrediting team found an enthused and reinvigorated institution poised for change and excellence.

INTRODUCTION

Los Angeles Mission College is one of nine colleges in the Los Angeles Community College District. It is located on 22 acres in the city of Sylmar and serves the northeast San Fernando Valley that encompasses eight zipcode areas with an approximate population of 336,000 residents.

The college was opened in 1975, and for the following 16 years classes were offered in storefronts and leased facilities throughout the community. In 1991, the present campus was opened with three buildings: an instructional building with an administrative wing, a campus center, and an administrative services/bookstore complex. Since that time the college has constructed a Library and Learning Resource Center (1997) and a Student Health Services facility (2000). The college also broke ground in the spring of 2000 for the Collaborative Studies Building that will house 12 "smart" classrooms.

Since the last accreditation visit in 1995, the college experienced a period of declining fiscal resources and a continual turnover in top administration. During this period the college has had three presidents and three vice presidents of academic affairs. In July of 2000, a permanent president was appointed, and the college greeted her arrival with great enthusiasm and support that continues today. At the time of the site visit, the college had selected three candidates and was in the process of hiring a permanent vice president of academic affairs.

The visiting team initially included 10 members appointed by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges and an assistant who accompanied the team chair. Due to a family emergency, one team member could not participate in the site visit. The team assistant was then asked to serve in the dual capacity of assistant to the team as well as a team member for this visit.

The Team was very well prepared for this assignment, having thoroughly read the Self Study as well all additional related materials pertinent to the College and the District. During the evaluation visit, Team members interviewed over 165 faculty, staff, administrators and students and held an open meeting with over 75 enthusiastic attendees. In addition, the District Chancellor as well as members of the Board of Trustees met with individual team members and team members also attended a public meeting of the Board of Trustees.

The Team found a college staff eagerly awaiting its arrival. The members of the visiting team were impressed with the obvious pride in the institution as manifested not only by the employees, but the students as well. There exists a great pride in the institution and tremendous optimism for the future.

Recommendation 1:

A comprehensive strategic plan needs to be developed by the college that should include program review, a specific plan of action of how it will address all that is required to fully implement the new Library and Learning Resource Center and how it will address similar building projects in the future.

The College’s response to this recommendation resulted in the development of the new Assessment and Planning process. This process requires individual units at the College to create objectives that link directly to the College’s goals and determine resource allocation. The result of this process is a collection of individual unit plans, which when combined do not yet constitute a comprehensive strategic plan for the College.

Regarding the implementation of the Library and Learning Resource Center, the plan was more successful in the Learning Center than it was in the Library. Staffing and equipment were provided in the Learning Center, however in the new Library, although sufficient equipment was provided, the staffing plan was not fully implemented.

The program review process, renamed the Institutional Effectiveness process, was expanded to comprehensively evaluate all areas of the College, including student services and administrative operations.

Recommendation 2:

The district and college need to ameliorate the disparity that exists between full and part-time faculty ratios in order to better meet the needs of the college’s diverse students.

The Self-Study indicates significant progress in this area, crucial to the College’s success. The team is pleased to validate this progress.

After years of operating the College with an over-reliance on part-time faculty, hiring shortcomings are being addressed. Improving faculty staffing ratios should significantly improve the College’s ability to meet its responsibilities as an effective learning community. Measurable progress is evident, with approximately sixteen new full time faculty having been hired, or are anticipated to be hired during the 2001-2002 academic year.

Recommendation 3:

The college response in July, 1998 reports that the district had begun a process of reform and decentralization. As part of the reform, the district implemented a new budget allocation model

that appears to be enabling the college to achieve fiscal stability.

The district continues to decentralize many operations formally provided by the central office. LA Mission College finds this as a mixed blessing. The college has much more independence and is out from under the tight control of the district. However, with this independence come college accountability responsibilities and operational processes previously performed by district staff. Mission College staff hav received little training and in some cases no training relative to the new operational processes. The College did not receive additional financial resources to accomplish the new tasks.

The budget allocation model created through the reform process has enabled the college to fund a contingency budget equal to 5% of the college Unrestricted General Fund budget. The new assessment and planning process at the college is designed to allow the college to do long range planning and to assess their achievements through measurable outcomes. The college has not completed the plan or identified the measurable outcomes fully to implement this process.

The new budget allocation model has also allowed the college to retain end-of-year savings and carry those funds to the subsequent year. In the past, all account balances reverted to the district fund balance. College long-rang planning is much more feasible under this process.

Recommendation 4:

The arrival of the new president in July, 2000 signaled a turning point with respect to participatory governance. There is optimism across Mission College with respect to increased involvement in the affairs of the college on the part of the employee community. Campus committees have been organized, roles and responsibilities clarified, and the limitations of authority have been identified.

The President’s Council is the nexus for five major college committees: Assessment and Planning, College Advancement, Institutional Effectiveness, Resource Analysis, and Staff Development. The Council is composed of the College President, chairs of the five standing committees, Faculty Senate President, AFT College Guild President, ASO President, AFT Staff Guild representative, and non-AFT Classified representative. Faculty were involved in the design of these committees. Although this group appeared to be still in the organizing stage, there is every reason to believe that group members will grow into their new roles and responsibilities.

Communication related to the decentralization/restructuring appears to be clear. There on- concerns emanating from the decentralization, but these concerns relate to appropriateness, lack of funding, and lack of preparation of college staff, not clarity of communication. Conversations with the district chancellor and representatives of the board of trustees indicated that they are aware of these problems and are taking steps to address them. The changes desired by the board are substantial and all pervasive and will not be fully implemented for several years.

It is likely that communication and clarity of roles will continue to improve as the new president and chancellor have time to implement new philosophies and processes.

Response to two additional issues mentioned in the Progress Report:

Issue 1:

The outcomes of current discussions on the reorganization of the college/district functions and relationships.

With the impetus of the accreditation visits of the three Los Angeles District Colleges-- LA Mission, Pierce, and LA Valley-- there appears to have been great discussion and clarification of the new decentralization process. Functional maps were developed that outlined various district/college functions and responsibilities. While dialogue and communication need to continue to fully implement the decentralization process, there appears to be the will of all involved to make this work.

Issue 2:

The district Unrestricted General Fund budgets for both June 30, 2000, and June 30, 2001, show a 4% operating reserve. The allocation model implemented three years ago in addition to decentralization is enabling the district to achieve fiscal stability.

The district needs to address the unfunded liability for retiree benefits, workers' compensation claims, and property and liability claims. An actuarial study should be made in these areas and a long-range plan developed to address these long-term debts.

The district recently purchased a new information software system to handle human resources and financial services. The software will eliminate the antiquated systems, which are labor intensive. Automation of payroll processing, accounts payable, and other manual operations will enhance the cost effectiveness of operations and further the district’s ability to achieve even greater fiscal stability.

The district should be cautious about the degree of decentralization that they undertake and the timeline with which they make these changes. It is possible that too much decentralization will be counterproductive for the district and the colleges it serves.

In 1999, the college developed a mission statement, which was adopted by the Board of Trustees in March of 2000. From this mission statement, seven broad-based educational goals emerged that addressed educational programs, student access and success, diversity, community relations, technology, facilities, and fiscal stability. Subsequent to the adoption of this mission statement, the college hired an associate dean of campus development and institutional research. The Master Planning Committee then created a subcommittee to review the statement to ensure it was aligned with the District mission and educational philosophy, Title 5, and the Education Code. It also reviewed the goals for measurability. As a result, the college determined that its mission statement and goals needed to be more specific, more measurable, and more compliant with state law and regulations. A new statement was drafted in the summer of 2000 and approved by the Master Planning Committee. The 1999 statement then became the college’s statement of philosophy. The Board of Trustees has not adopted this new mission.

The new mission statement specifically mentions comprehensive lower-division, general education, AA and AS degree programs, occupational education and certificates, transfer education, developmental education, student support services, and community services. It emphasizes that the college will respond to the changing needs of its community, and it states that the college will protect academic freedom and maintain academic standards.

The college’s Self-Study survey, conducted in 1999, indicates that a majority of faculty and staff felt they had a good understanding of the 1999 statement even though it was not especially visible. The new 2000 mission statement appears in the 2000-2001 catalog and is posted on the college’s web site under the accreditation Self-Study. The college plans to review the mission statement, philosophy, and goals annually to ensure that they continue to be aligned with those of the District, reflect changes in the external environment, and reflect the results of the evaluation procedures that will be instituted in the new assessment and planning process.

The mission statement includes all the major functions of a California community college. Further, it addresses the need to protect academic freedom and academic standards. It is the basis for the college’s goals, which provide the framework for the college’s new assessment and planning process. The team noted that the current mission statement appears to be more of a description of where the college now is and what it now does as opposed to what it should become and do. When the college next reviews the mission statement, it may want to consider making the statement more visionary.

The new mission statement identifies the broad-based educational purposes it seeks to achieve. It generally indicates the students it will serve, i.e., the "people in the San Fernando Valley." The college deliberately selected the word "people" vs. "student" in order to be more inclusive. However, not using the more familiar term of "student" could suggest to the average reader that the college does not consider students in its mission or is not as student-centered as it appears to be. The statement does not directly indicate the parameters under which resources will be allocated. However, the mission statement is the basis for the college’s goals, which are tightly integrated into its new assessment and planning process that will drive resource allocation. The college might want to consider whether the goals should be included with the statements of philosophy and mission when they are published.

A concern was expressed in the Self-Study that the mission statement needed to be more visible. It does appear in the current college catalog. There is intent to include it in all major publications such as the class schedule and program brochures, though it is not clear who will be responsible for ensuring that this occurs. As for the web site, the mission statement is listed under Accreditation and is not easily found. The college may want to consider establishing a link on its home page to the philosophy and mission statements.

The team noted that although the new mission statement appears in the 2000-01 catalog, it has not yet been formally approved by the Academic Senate and the newly formed President’s Council, nor has it been submitted to the Board of Trustees. It is important that the college complete the approval process at both the college and district levels, especially since the statement is being publicized and used in the college’s planning activities.

Although the assessment and planning process is in its formative stages, it is clear that the mission statement is intended to be a guiding force in institutional planning and decision-making. The college plans to evaluate the statement on an annual basis, which should ensure that the statement addresses changing student needs. Because it is possible that the statement will have periodic updates, extra effort will have to be taken to ensure that the college is kept apprised of the changes and their effect on institutional goals.

1. The team recommends that the college complete the approval process for the new mission statement and submit it to the Board of Trustees for approval. (Standard 1.1)

The LA Mission Self-Study identifies the catalog and the schedule of classes as their primary sources of information on policies and programs. It also indicates that the content is reviewed according to local policies and procedures to insure relevancy and accuracy. Other sources of information include the college website and the newly developed student handbook. The LACCD Self-Study confirms that LA Mission College is responsible for the content and the presentation of information in its publications and website (LACCD Self-Study 2.1). A review of the catalog, schedule, and website, and subsequent interviews with LA Mission staff by members of the visiting accreditation team confirm the presence of relevant policies and procedures.

However, as reported in the LA Mission Self-Study, inaccuracies in the schedule of classes have occurred. The Self-Study indicates that these inaccuracies are associated with 1) differences in the articulation process calendar and the proofing/printing deadlines and 2) differences with the district scheduling software and the publication preparation process. Interviews with LA Mission staff confirmed these problems. Interviewees also pointed out the problem attendant with the use of a contracted graphic artist in the production process. The college has been proactive in correcting articulation errors and has recently hired an articulation officer who is now charged with the responsibility of resolving these issues.

The new student handbook repeated information in both the catalog and schedule of courses and replicated some of the problems as well. While the handbook is a worthy idea, the added burden of editing three documents with the same information leads to the conclusion that some decisions need to be made on which information needs to be included in which documents and in which form. Also, new students for whom Spanish is their first language may have difficulty with policy and procedure statements.

The Self-Study refers to the recent formation of an ad hoc committee of the Academic Senate to assist in the oversight of the editing of the catalog and the schedules. Interviews with staff indicate the formation of the committee is still in progress. The team encourages continued efforts to prevent inaccuracies and incomplete information in college publications.

The college Self-Study further indicates that the District Office of Public Relations periodically provides information to the college to be included in the college publications for dissemination to the college’s constituencies, public, and prospective students. This was confirmed with a telephone discussion with the District Office of Public Relations.

The College website contains all relevant policy and procedure statements, descriptions of courses, schedules, online registration, and faculty/staff listings. However, discussions with various college staff indicated that the website uses terms and linkages that are not "user-friendly". Consequently, there is a new website under construction at the present time and review of the new website confirms a concerted effort on the part of the college to meet this standard’s requirement.

The college’s commitment to institutional integrity is evident in the policies and procedures defining the students’ rights to privacy, fair and objective performance evaluation, and the students’ obligations to academic honesty. These policies and procedures are published in full in the catalog with selected portions thereof in the schedule and the student handbook.

"Academic freedom" is clearly defined in Article 4 of the collective bargaining agreement between the LACCD and the American Federation of Teachers Local 1521. However, awareness of this policy might be in question as Team Members were unable to locate this in other publications . The Team would encourage the college to make the policy protecting academic freedom readily available to faculty and students by including it with other policies and in the appropriate print and web-based publications of the College.

The Self-Study points out the non-existence of an athletic program. Examination of the schedule and interviews with staff validate this statement. Potential students may encounter confusion about this should they fail to fully understand the statement on Intercollegiate Athletics on page C-1 of the current catalog. The Team would encourage the college to review all publications to eliminate any confusing statements of programs, policies, and procedures.

The college also demonstrates its commitment to issues of equity and diversity. The college goals as published in the catalog clearly reflect this commitment. The Self-Study, on the other hand, also points out that the diversity make-up of faculty and staff does not reflect the diversity of its community. Discussions with staff indicate the disparity could be explained because the applicant/candidate pool is insufficient in size. The lack of an adequate number of applicants in a pool for a classified position appears to be directly tied to the District’s Personnel Commission Regulations which require a limit on the number of possible interviewees for any given classified position.

The recently formed Diversity Committee whose responsibility is to 1) train faculty and staff in Affirmative Action practices and policies for the hiring processes, and 2) embrace and participate in campus diversity activities is yet another example of the college’s commitment to equity and diversity.

The College is to be commended for its candid analyses of issues of institutional integrity, and in particular, its recognition of shortcomings and problems with the catalog and class schedules. The team encourages the college to continue proactive measures to ameliorate these problems.

All policies, with the exception of the statement on academic freedom, are readily accessible to faculty, staff and students. This is not an issue of the existence of a statement, but rather that it is not available to staff and students.

LA Mission is located in a diverse community and has a richly diverse student body. The faculty, staff and administration are dedicated to meeting the needs of the students and the community it serves.

2. The Team recommends that the college carefully review its publications, particularly the college catalog, to eliminate confusing statements of programs, policies and procedures. (Standard 2.1)

In 1999-2000, Los Angeles Mission College developed the new Assessment and Planning and Institutional Effectiveness processes to place more emphasis on improvement and accountability through assessment and measurable outcomes. Also, in this effort, the college hired a new associate dean of campus development and institutional research to provide leadership in both planning and research.

At the time of the writing of the Self-Study, the Assessment and Planning process had not been completely developed; therefore, the scope of the process and the link to budget development were not clearly articulated. However, from additional documentation provided at the college and from interviews with faculty and staff involved in the development of the process, the details of the process and its role at Mission College became clearer to the team.

Five new standing committees were created to replace a myriad of committees operating independently in decision-making efforts at the college. These five committees report to the newly formed President’s Council; the governance body is ultimately responsible for assessment and planning at the college.

As part of the Assessment and Planning process, the college identified nine goals, derived from the new Mission College mission and philosophy, to which each unit must tie its planning objectives. These objectives are linked to success indicators with measurable outcomes. The result of the process is that resources will be allocated to those objectives that have the greatest effect on the advancement of college goals. One key to the success of this process is the use of the planning software, Quality Builder, because the entire Assessment and Planning process centers on the structure established in this software. The associate dean of research is responsible for the process using this software.

The Institutional Effectiveness process replaces program review as the comprehensive process to evaluate college programs. The process is being extended to all areas of the College, including student services and administrative operations, whereas program review focused solely on instructional programs. At this time, the model for non-instructional areas has yet to be created. While the link between Assessment and Planning and Institutional Effectiveness is implied, it is not clearly articulated in any written documents.

At the time of the site visit, the new planning committees were still being formed, the functions defined, membership determined, and charters developed. Many ideas and interpretations, some conflicting, regarding these committees are still being discussed around the campus. A small number of units that represent instruction, student services and administrative services have been identified for the new Assessment and Planning process during spring 2001. The first programs to use the new Institutional Effectiveness are planned for the fall 2001 term.

Research used as a part of planning process is still new at the college. The new associate dean of research has established a website with some student data accessible to faculty and staff. In addition, requests for specific data can be made to the associate dean and to the matriculation researcher. However, the use of data is still not widespread. Surveys have not been regularly administered at the College, nor has available survey data been used consistently across the campus for the purposes of improvement. The emphasis on producing measurable outcomes in the new Assessment and Planning process will increase the need for many forms of data. Plans to expand the information on the website and institute a regularly administered survey program are in progress.

Both the associate dean of research and the matriculation office are performing research and the relationship between these two research functions has not been clearly established. There is an apparent understanding that the matriculation office performs research directly related to matriculation and the associate dean performs all other research, but each works independently of the other with little communication. This problem can result in a duplication of effort or lack of clarity as to which area is responsible for which research. While there is agreement on both sides that the research functions should be consolidated, exactly how that can be done has not yet been considered.

The team found a dedicated faculty and staff who were optimistic that the newly developed planning process would be central to the improvement of the College. The campus as a whole appears to be optimistic about and supportive of the new processes for planning and evaluation. Some employees believe that the new Assessment and Planning process will ensure greater fairness in resource allocation and give individual units a sense of their contribution to the advancement of college goals. A key strength of this new process is the link between individual units’ goals and Mission College goals and the use of measurable outcomes to determine success and drive improvement.

It should be noted that the college realizes its plans are very ambitious and recognizes that a change in the college's culture is necessary, but will not be achieved simply or quickly. The college’s determination to succeed with these processes is commendable, and if its plans are successful, this process may be an exemplary model for budget planning in the state.

The opportunity for involvement of all the various college constituencies in the development of these processes was present; however, participation varied greatly among these groups and among the committees. Faculty participation is enthusiastic but sometimes limited due to the small number of full-time faculty to serve on committees. Students are appointed to planning committees, but actual participation is inconsistent. In addition, the students’ role on each committee is unclear to the students, specifically in terms of their voting rights. It is the responsibility of committees to ensure that student members do not have a conflict between the meeting time and their class schedule and are formally informed of all meetings in advance. It is the students’ responsibility to commit to their role as representatives of the student body on these committees. Staff involvement in planning is also inconsistent. During interviews the team discovered that key staff members were not involved in the evaluation or planning of their areas. It is unclear whether this problem stems from a lack of interest on the part of the staff or lack of inclusion from the committees. The team encourages the college to seek ways to ensure the full participation of faculty, staff and students in these committees as they are all central to the planning processes at the college.

While the Los Angeles District surveys students and faculty, these surveys are not administered with any regularity, and there is no survey of district staff. Therefore, the college cannot rely solely on the District to provide consistent survey data needed to support the planning process. The 2000 Accreditation surveys of faculty, staff and students could serve as the basis for the development of regularly administered surveys. The visiting team suggests that the college determine what surveys are needed, develop an appropriate schedule for the administration of each survey, and identify the resources needed to administer these surveys.

Many of the new planning processes rely heavily on the associate dean to support both the research and planning aspects through managing the planning software, providing data, and conducting surveys. In addition, the Self-Study mentions the establishment of an assessment and planning office under the direction of the associate dean, but no plans were included as to how this would be achieved. Currently, the associate dean has no support staff and no individual budget to support these activities. The college’s commitment is evidenced in the use of general college funds to pay the associate dean’s salary as opposed to special funds as is often the case. However, without additional permanent support, it will be difficult for the associate dean effectively to support research and planning at the college. The visiting team strongly encourages the college to define more clearly the associate dean’s role in planning and provide the additional resources needed--human, fiscal and physical--to fulfill these functions.

Although it has been identified as the responsibility of the President’s Council to evaluate the new planning processes, there is no process currently in place for this evaluation. The team suggests an evaluation process be clearly defined and that the process include a mechanism for input, a timeline, or a procedure for making changes to the process.

Many of the details in these new planning processes have yet to be determined; therefore, a complete analysis of the new process' effectiveness is difficult at this time; however, the team identified several outstanding issues. The current process does not provide for the submission of a collaborative request for funding from multiple units. The Quality Builder software program is not intuitive and will require extensive training of staff and faculty in the units responsible for generating the operational plans. The purview of the Academic Senate Curriculum Committee in this process needs to be more clearly articulated in the planning procedures than as "academic and professional matters." The purpose of the Institutional Effectiveness committee, as currently written, communicates that the committee will identify success indicators and select the validation teams for all the units. Based on interviews, the team determined that this decision was made best by the units themselves with the approval of the committee. This clarification needs to be made in the committee charter currently under development.

Due to the four-year cycle of Institutional Effectiveness, the accountability component of the Assessment and Planning process becomes crucial to the success of these new planning processes. The college must ensure that all units report the success of their objectives and that this information is incorporated into the next planning cycle. In addition, until the Institutional Effectiveness model is completely developed and the relationship with Assessment and Planning established, this accountability reporting will be the only evaluative process in place.

Of significant concern to the visiting team is how the college will reconcile the results from two parallel-planning processes. The units participating in the pilot of the Assessment and Planning process in 2001 will have their objectives prioritized by the Assessment and Planning Committee, but that leaves the remaining units of the College outside this process for resource allocation. It is not clear whether only those units in the pilot can request new funding, or if units not in the pilot will be able to circumvent the process to get funding requests approved.

Also of concern to the team is the drive to press forward with the new planning processes that have not been fully developed, articulated, and shared with the campus community. While the college’s urgency to move towards more effective practices is understandable, a more detailed process would help facilitate a smoother transition. In addition, other college plans such as a facility master plan, technology plan, enrollment management plan, and educational master plan need to be linked to the new the Assessment and Planning process to constitute a comprehensive strategic plan for the College.

3. The Team recommends the college complete the development of both the Assessment and Planning and Institutional Effectiveness processes and resolve how the old and new planning processes will co-exist during the transition period. (Standards 3.B.1, 3.B.2, 7.C.1)

4. The Team recommends the College develop comprehensive plans in the areas of educational and student service programs, facilities, technology, and library acquisitions that are linked to resource allocations and tied to the new Assessment and Planning process. (Standards 3.B.3, 4 D.1, 5.10, 6.5, 6.7, 8.5)

5. The Team recommends that the college expand the research function with adequate staffing and resources to fully support the newly designed planning process. (Standards 3A.1, 3A.2, 3C.3, 10 C.1)

Optimism and enthusiasm characterize the attitude of faculty and staff who have worked with intense dedication on behalf of the students of Los Angeles Mission College. They are candid about the challenges they have faced and produced an honest appraisal of their educational programs. They are to be commended for advocating a highly inclusive process in responding to Standard 4. The report was consistently characterized as being accurate, frank, and optimistic.

When asked to cite the greatest strengths of the educational programs, the overwhelming response was the quality and dedication of the faculty. There is recognition that enrollment pressures could lead to educationally unsound practices, but faculty and administration uphold high standards in the classroom. The Self-Study mentions, however, a positive trend in grade distributions towards the A grade with an increase in W grades, which might indicate a need to investigate both retention of students and faculty standards. The study also mentions that evaluation of students' attainment of standards as uneven since so many different instructors may not measure student learning in the same way. The report suggests that both math and English are looking to exit exams as a method of evaluating student learning. The team encourages the college to examine student learning in the context of the entire general education curriculum with the assistance of the college researcher rather than to look to specific disciplines to validate that learning.

Many staff mentioned the need to hire a Vice President of Academic Affairs. The team visit occurred at the time that this position was being filled after being vacant for some time. Lack of leadership for the overall aspect of Academic Affairs has impacted educational programs in such areas as program development and enrollment management. The vacuum has been filled by faculty at the discipline level and by other areas of the college assuming leadership for educational programs.

Decentralization of the curriculum process from the District has been welcomed by the college and viewed as a positive step towards more timely approval of new courses, certificates, and degrees

Interest was expressed in the district offering leadership and coordination in connection with on-line classes. It has been suggested that a college's distance learning classes should be available to any student in the district thereby increasing enrollments of smaller classes. Additionally, such a practice could permit the redirection of some FTEF to other instructional needs.

When asked to cite the most urgent issue as well as other areas needing attention in instruction, consensus on two themes surfaced. The most common concerns were support for instructional programs to meet the needs of a diverse population of students and provision of space for more classes and private faculty offices.

The Self-Study mentions a concern about offering a sufficient number of basic skills classes to serve the needs of the changing student population. However, there is no current information validating the need for more basic skills classes other than low test scores of entering students. The Self-Study comments on the need to evaluate the pre-requisite enforcement as well as basic skills assessment. No mention is made of a pre-requisite challenge process. An enrollment management plan would examine whether or not the need for basic skills courses is a valid concern and suggest ways to address this need if it can be validated. Such a plan would also address another concern expressed in the Self-Study of "no systematic effort to evaluate the effectiveness of the general education curriculum." According to the Self-Study, only about 40% of the faculty believe that the articulation efforts at the college are adequate. This attitude may reflect lack of information, changes in the office responsible for articulation, or a need to improve articulation. The team encourages the college to evaluate its articulation efforts.

Pride and excitement over the new collaborative studies building is second only to the anticipation that a bond measure will pass. With a healthy infusion of bond money for capital construction and improvements, the college would find itself poised on the threshold of a deeply desired expansion opportunity.

However, there is no educational or facilities master plan identifying the priorities for whatever funding might become available. The president has made a commitment that all new buildings will contain private faculty offices, but there remains the larger question of which programs (basic skills? transfer? vocational?) should grow and what would be their particular facilities, equipment, personnel, and operating budget requirements. The Self-Study authors recognized that programs with low enrollment may need to be evaluated in terms of program management. The team encourages the college to develop an enrollment plan, which will consider the issues mentioned in the Self-Study including marketing, recruiting, and scheduling of courses.

There appears to be widespread agreement that enrollment management is nonexistent due to the lack of an overarching plan to provide a basis for strategic decision making in course scheduling. Many faculty assert that students will not attend early morning classes, and the team found that few classes are offered before 9:00 a.m. Evening classes are very popular as indicated by the full parking lot even though many classes are also offered off-campus in the evening.

Another indication of the lack of enrollment management is the scheduling being done in various areas without oversight to take into account student access. For example, transfer classes which fulfill the humanities requirement, are frequently scheduled at the same time in various disciplines so students cannot choose to take several of them in the same semester. The Self-Study mentions the success of block scheduling and learning communities and suggests that these two approaches may need to be expanded. The team encourages the college to review these approaches in the context of an overall enrollment plan rather than as an ad hoc measure to increase enrollment.

Concerns have been expressed over the loss of enrollments to neighboring colleges because

LA Mission College offers a limited number of advanced courses in various disciplines. Because such courses tend to have low enrollments, they are often cancelled thereby leaving students vulnerable to lengthy gaps in program completion if they wish to remain at LA Mission College. The college has been caught in a cycle of low enrollments and course cancellations while wishing to remain committed to providing a comprehensive program.

Other areas cited for improvement included more full-time faculty, better grouping of disciplines in the department structure, flexible access to funds for innovation in vocational programs, further upgrade of the quality of instruction, block scheduling of pre-collegiate courses, enforcement of reading prerequisites, better utilization of space in the library, shift from reliance on soft money for vocational programs, stability and streamlining of financial and human resources processes, involvement by more faculty in shared governance, improved audio-visual support in classrooms, more counselors, parking.

The college appears to be ready, willing, and able to move towards ambitious goals of providing greater depth and breadth in its educational programs. Since educational programs are at the heart of the college's operations, they merit the initial focus of the assessment, planning, and institutional effectiveness process. A particular aspect of the educational programs—enrollment management--emerges as needing attention and energy in advance of other areas.

A related need in this area is market research. For example, opinions vary regarding the feasibility of attracting students to classes offered in times outside the existing block schedule. Market research would provide a quantitative and qualitative basis for expanding course offerings whether through new curricula, schedules, locales, or modalities.

Recommendations

6. With the assistance of broad-based input, the college should develop an enrollment management plan that provides a framework for strategic growth. (Standard 4.A.1, A. 2, A. 3, A.4)

The enrollment of Los Angeles Mission College is increasing. There are now over 7,000 students. This increase, along with the expansion to alternate modes of instructional delivery, is beginning to place pressure on a number of student service offices. The student population is primarily Latino and female, with approximately two-thirds of the students in each category.

Admissions policies and practices are consistent with the mission of the institution. The college provides information about programs and policies in its catalog and schedule of courses. The college has added a handbook in the form of a free academic planner. The first 100 pages of the planner consist of calendar with significant academic events and deadlines, and the next 25 pages are a handbook with a list of campus resources and the student conduct code and grievance procedures.

The Counseling Office is under the supervision of the Dean of Academic Affairs. Six counselors serve in this office as generalists, and the office has central responsibility for coordinating counseling activities. Several offices within student services have counselors who serve special populations. A concern within counseling is the failure of students to complete educational plans, which the Self-Study considered as a contributing factor to a low success rate. The Counseling Office has tried to address this problem by offering personal development courses to acquaint students with the need to form goals, as well as to become familiar with campus policies, procedures, and resources available to help them succeed.

The College offers a number of methods for delivery of the curriculum outside of traditional classroom instruction, including the use of evenings, weekends, electronic media and outreach sites. Counseling attempts to keep pace with these methods. For example, a counselor has been assigned to assist on-line students via e-mail and data downloading, but there is not enough staff in general to offer the full range of services to all types of students being served. Students at outreach sites, for example, must come to the main campus for all services. Student services as a whole has aggressively pursued methods to provide as many services as possible to students using most of these alternate delivery methods.

Half of the students (3134 in Spring 2001) are on financial aid, much of it tuition waivers. There are also over 800 students receiving Pell Grants, reflecting the low socio-economic status of much of the service area. There are only about 80 students who have federal loans, however.

The low number of scholarships noted in the Self-Study was because the scholarships were being administered only through the EOPS office. This responsibility has now been returned to the Financial Aid office. With the advent of alternate delivery of instruction, the Financial Aid office has developed a web-site and is encouraging students to make use of web-based services. An additional technician has been added to the staff to cope with the increasing student enrollment and financial aid applications. With the enrollment increasing, and a concomitant increase in financial aid applicants, the Vice President of Student Services hopes to add three more staff to the office.

The College has made a good effort to offer various activities in support of a co-curricular environment. While response has been poor, low attendance has been attributed to publicity issues. Though not mentioned in the Self-Study, the funding cuts from four years ago forced reductions in student life programs, notably athletic programs. At present, there are no plans to reinstate these programs.

The College maintains all records permanently, securely and confidentially, with backup of computer records at the district office. Some thought has been given to the digital imaging of older records, but there is insufficient staffing in both Admissions and Records and Financial Aid to mount such a major project. In the meantime, these files are stored securely, though in a manner that requires considerable space.

Surveys of students have identified some dissatisfaction with services. The College seems to be taking these results seriously as they seek ways to improve services. Using the new Assessment and Planning process, the team encourages the college to involve student services in the effort to assess and improve that area of the college.

The campus appears to be reaching out to students in several ways. The team found that the campus tries to involve students in a range of committees. Student Service offices have made a solid effort to improve communication with students. They have made good use of the Internet, and have made efforts to extend services to evening, weekend and on-line students. The College now has a telephone and Internet registration system that together have made it much easier for students to enroll in courses. There is also a web-based application for admissions. However, of 4000 applications received by the admissions staff, only 300 were through the web. This low use of the website may be the result of many students not having access to the Internet.

The team identified some issues related to the organization of student services. For example, the head of the Office of Admissions and Records is a clerk who reports directly to the Vice President of Student Services, but seldom meets with the Vice President. This reporting relationship involves such a large gap in levels that it raises questions about the effectiveness of the Office of Admissions and Records within Students Services. There is an Associate Dean of Admissions and Records, and the College has not had a registrar. The College might want to consider reinstating the administrative status of the office.

Neither the Financial Aid Office nor the Admission and Records Office was directly contacted for the purpose of the Self-Study. Instead, the Standard 5 Chair reported that the Vice President of Student Services provided their perspective, as he was on the Standard 5 committee. This may be indicative of a larger problem in the lack of involvement of key staff in decisions affecting student services or in the nature of reporting relationships.

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The general counseling office is understaffed given the increasing number of students and the increased need to expand services to assist students taking courses at different times and places. The College lacks an enrollment management plan, but such a plan would need to involve counseling for the purpose of recruitment and outreach, adding to efforts already being made by counseling in these areas.

Student participation in governance is spotty. Students are nominally on most committees, but attendance is irregular as they are often not formally invited to meetings, not consulted as to their course schedules, or not expected to attend. Even if they attend, the students’ involvement is not all it could be as they lack the understanding as to how to fully participate and are not well informed as to their voting rights, the significance of their roles, or the impact of the committees’ actions on students.

Student Services staff is aware of the need to evaluate themselves but have not been directly consulted about their plans to develop measurable objectives or assess those objectives. The team encourages the Student Services staff to become more fully involved in the Assessment and Planning process.

In 1997, the Library, Learning Resources and other information components moved into a new three-story building called the Library and Learning Resource Center. The new center is attractive and for the most part well laid out. The Library is located on the top floor and because of the topography has an inviting street level entrance that includes wheel chair access. However, this entrance is not used and is kept locked for security reasons. This means the only access to the library is through the learning center on the floor below. The stairs leading to the library are at the end opposite the learning center entrance. There is only one small paper sign taped at the stairs that points the way to the library. Because of this lack of visibility, library staff feel that some students, especially those new to the college, may not find their way to the library. The team suggests that this could be easily remedied with a large directional sign overhead in the learning center.

The Learning Center, located on the middle floor, is entered directly from the main level of the campus interior. The entrance is attractive with easy access through automatic doors. Computer Systems Services is located on the lower level along with a faculty development lab, a multi-media lab/classroom, a two-story teleconference auditorium, a television production studio, and post-production facilities including a state-of-the-art, industry-level, editing suite. The television studio has not yet been equipped and put into use.

The college is to be commended on the new Library – Learning Resource Center. The space throughout the building is open, attractive and well maintained. Two examples are the design and location of the Learning Center help desk/ check-in desk and the Library reference desk. Both of these important focal points are very attractive, functional for staff and students, and located in visible locations.

The Audio-Visual (A-V) department is located in a separate building. The A-V department has developed an online scheduling process that had just been implemented at the time of the Self-Study. The Self-Study found that many orders were not being filled. However, since the time of the writing of the Self-Study, the team found that this service has improved significantly. The A-V department provides many services including audio and video duplicating, video editing and CD transfers as well as equipment delivery to classrooms.

There are about 350 computers throughout the Library and Learning Resource Center building. The available equipment, including the online public access catalogs (OPACs) for searching the library collection, appears to be adequate for student needs. A library technology plan has been developed and, in addition to computers and other instructional equipment, includes personnel requests, budget implications and benefits to the college when the plan is implemented. This will become part of the college’s technology master plan. As part of the technology master plan, the team suggests that the college develop and fund a schedule for updating and replacing computers campus-wide.

The Library has a book collection of approximately 39,000 titles. In addition to providing a collection of sufficient size, it is equally important to insure the collection is as current as possible in order to support the academic programs. Having recently published works is especially important to the support of general education and transfer level programs. The library is about to undergo program review, and the Library staff is looking forward to this kind of college appraisal.

Input from faculty, staff and students is used in the selection of books and periodicals, but faculty participation has been difficult to sustain. The team encourages consistent faculty involvement in collection development in the library. The book budget for the 2000-2001 year is $11,000. Of that amount, $10,000 will be needed for standing orders leaving only $1,000 for new titles. However, the library has requested an additional $15,000 that has been approved but so far not allocated. The Library has a collection development policy in place, but systematic collection development is difficult to plan for with no assurance of a stable budget. The team suggests that the college develop a systematic process for updating and enlarging the book collection as part of the new Planning and Assessment process and commit to adequate and stable funding for instructional materials.

The library has changed reporting lines several times and currently reports to the Dean for Special Funded Programs rather than to the vice president. The decision for this administrative placement appears to have been made on the basis of proximity to those programs rather than on any philosophical basis. On a more positive note, the library staff are enthusiastic about the district decentralization. Although far from perfect, the concept should result in increased responsiveness to local problems. The morale of the college staff has already lifted as a result of this action. Decentralization should help the Library and Learning Center as the college determines its own academic priorities and develops plans for the future of Learning Resources as support for the academic program.

Maintenance for the two campus networks, instructional and administrative/staff/faculty, as well as most of the 700 computers on campus is supplied by Computer Systems Services. This department was established to design the infrastructure for the Library and Learning Resource Center while it was under construction and to maintain the equipment within the building once it was completed. There are 350 computers in the Library and Learning Resource Center. The responsibility for the rest of the campus was added later with no additional staff hired. The team heard the complaint that, in addition to a limited staff, there are several CSS staff members working out of class. An ongoing concern is the training of college staff in the use of software purchased by the college. This training often falls to the CSS staff that further exacerbates the problem of having a limited staff whose primary responsibility is maintenance. For example, the District is going to switch to a new e-mail product (Microsoft Outlook/Exchange) at the end of spring term. Because of the problems associated with the installation of new software products in the past, the team felt there is justifiable apprehension on the part of the CSS staff regarding the training required for this new e-mail system.

The well-equipped Learning Center is sufficiently used by students, and its resources are easily accessible to all users. Students interviewed commented favorably on the hours of operation, the helpfulness of the staff, and the availability of equipment. The Center has many "drop in" tutoring services including math and English writing assistance. The computer commons is an open area, and students can use this equipment for any of their college work. Recently, the Learning Center established a GED program. The goal of this program is to prepare students who have left high school without graduating to pass the GED exam. At the time the Self-Study was written, the program had assisted over 500 students in four semesters, and the program continues to attract large numbers of students. The college is to be commended for this direct response to community needs.

The staff members in all areas of Library and Learning Resources seem hopeful and enthusiastic about the future; they are friendly, talented and committed to student success.

They are pleased with the new president and the fact that they are soon going to have a permanent Vice President of Academic Affairs. Staff members are enthusiastic about being at LA Mission College and about the students they serve.

Faculty staffing ratios are improving with a very positive effect on the college climate. Real progress is being made in hiring full time, highly qualified faculty, support staff and administrators. The newly charged Hiring Committee of the Faculty Senate, put into place this year, has conducted a fully functional hiring process of long needed full-time faculty. This process is college based, fair, open and comprehensive. However, the same cannot be said for the classified hiring process, which is still District centered and often bogged down in the processes of the Personnel Commission. Interviews with program managers and office supervisors who have experienced the process of creating new classified positions describe this process as cumbersome and unresponsive to program and college needs and requirements. Personnel at the College believe that insufficient testing and rankings are done in order to yield a large and ready hiring pool.

Overall, faculty and staff evaluation is effective with the processes spelled out in union agreements. However, evaluation differs in quality among various employee groups–full and part-time faculty, staff, classified staff and administrators. The effectiveness of the faculty process to evaluate knowledge in the field is questionable. With many small disciplines within departments, including disciplines with one full-time or only part-time faculty members, the peer evaluator may not be from the same subject area as the person evaluated. As additional faculty are hired, this problem should be resolved.

Staff development opportunities have substantially increased in quantity and improved in their appeal. Programs are open to all employees and are widely advertised. The team has validated that college employees have appropriate opportunities to access staff development and continue to build their professional skills through on campus training programs, funded off-site conferences, and reimbursement for taking relevant courses and other revitalization activities. The Staff Development Committee plans to include activities related to the new assessment and planning process because faculty, administration, and staff will need assistance with writing measurable objectives and attaching performance indicators. In addition to the staff development program, Staff Development also provides for 50 percent tuition reimbursement for faculty. Part-time faculty are kept aware of and are required to participate in staff development activities to satisfy paid flex requirements of their employment, while having nearly equal access to funding resources. The team suggests that particular staff development attention be paid in the coming year to appropriate training in the new planning processes.

The campus climate is enthusiastic, forward looking and positive. Employee attitudes have improved, and the team noted a pervasive optimism on campus. The prospect of very significant new bond revenues, increases in staffing, and effective new administrative leadership have broadly enhanced employee attitudes. The governance process is being revised, the structure re-defined, and the process re-energized with the leadership of the respected new Mission College President and the professionally involved, campus Academic Senate. Structures are being created to implement the new assessment and planning process, which in turn is expected to help address long standing concerns, such as appropriate and sufficient staffing. Departments, offices, and disciplines plan to use the new assessment and planning process rationally to support new hiring, and to retrain existing staff as needs indicate. The reduction of reliance on part-time faculty has begun to a yield more committed teaching faculty, who are ready to populate critical College committee functions. The team suggests that all faculty members need to take an active role in the governance of the College and to advocate for their program’s growth.

The District Personnel Commission determines criteria and staffing qualifications for hiring of classified staff. Dissatisfaction with the Personnel Commission’s processes and speed is widely felt among all employee groups: Managers complain of untimely processing and lack of response to expressed staffing needs, while classified employees find it nearly impossible to seek promotions or changes in classification which more accurately reflect duties being performed. The testing and ranking process for hiring classified personnel is very slow-moving and does not allow the College to keep up in meeting its programmatic support needs and to fill its full time openings. Upgrade of Classification (form C1121) begins a lengthy process of changing to positions more appropriate for whatever current functions are being performed. There is a widely perceived notion that movement to new classification or higher job status is far too slow, difficult, and restrictive. The Commission’s testing is inadequate, leaving Mission lagging behind in staffing, unable to keep up with student growth and the expanded hours of facility operation. The college expects that the Board of Trustees’ reassessment of the Personnel Commission will facilitate lateral and upward mobility for classified staff and that responsiveness to the needs of the College for appropriate staff hiring will result.

In compliance with the Agreement between the Los Angeles Community College District and the AFT Staff Guild Local 1521, a fund reimburses clerical/technical unit employees for tuition for any job-related courses taken. This is a popular and effective benefit to the employee and one worthy of commendation.

Classified employees regard evaluation processes as being somewhat erratically applied and/or untimely. Managers of classified employees are not trained to properly conduct evaluations. Existing tools with guidelines regarding difficult disciplinary actions (i.e. the District pamphlet Employee Supervision: A Positive Approach to Disciplinary Problems) can help supervisors to improve working with subordinates and helping them to become effective thereby addressing any shortcomings with timely actions. The college plans for an evaluation of the management practices of all supervisors of classified personnel and a comprehensive training program to ensure equity and fair treatment with regard to staff duties and office needs. The accreditation team encourages the college to begin management and supervisorial training on the proper approach to conducting of staff evaluations.

With broad committee membership and strong leadership, Staff Development is one of the key standing committees on the President’s Council. Because of its placement in the shared governance structure, the Staff Development Committee may want to consider a number of initiatives to meet college needs. Project Match, an instructional development program designed to recruit and promote quality instruction and diversity, is one commendable initiative sponsored by the District Academic Senate. The college places job announcement ads in ethnically diverse professional publications. Further initiatives to recruit a diverse faculty continue to merit attention. The College has had a half-time compliance officer, who is leaving during spring, 2001, and is to be replaced by a full time person by the fall. The new person will need to conduct training for the hiring committees.

The Mission College campus, located in northeast San Fernando Valley, opened in 1991 although the college has existed since 1975 in local storefronts. The present campus is beautifully maintained with an enchanting view of the nearby mountains. The faculty, staff and students take justifiable pride in their environment. Since the campus opened, facilities have increased from the three buildings originally constructed to include four new facilities and renovations to existing facilities as well as a new building for which ground recently has been broken. The college also offers courses in several area high schools, a Cultural Arts Center in a local park, a One Stop center, and a leased facility in Sylmar. Four additional facilities have been proposed which if constructed will utilize the existing campus of 22 acres. On-campus facilities serve the majority of the students, with approximately 900 students attending classes in the off-campus sites and through distance education. Ten percent of the evening classes are offered off-site. The campus is accessible to the disabled, although off-campus sites are neither in compliance nor do the landlords adequately maintain all of them.

Since the Self-Study was written, two facilities have been improved with repairs. The report mentions toxic fumes in one off-campus facility, but in the intervening time, the adjacent neighbor who was causing toxic fumes has moved, making this no longer a problem.

Students and staff are generally satisfied with the facilities: they stated in the open forum that they are pleased with the cleanliness and upkeep of the campus. The facilities staff is service and client oriented.

The campus is safe according to the crime statistics, and in the open forum, faculty and staff stated that they are satisfied with the safety and security of the campus in spite of a recent increase in robberies. The campus has moved from a local security force to a contract with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department. The administration sees this change as an improvement in services.

In the other area of safety—a safe work environment—a committee chaired by a union representative is responsible for dealing with issues in such areas as ergonomic chairs. Faculty, however, are not particularly aware of the issues around hazardous waste or safety training with less than 30 percent stating they know about these issues. Training about hazardous waste and the disposal of it are under the purview of the facilities manager. Plans exist for providing on-going training through videos and written materials.

The Self-Study report details sufficient staff to meet campus needs although traveling to off-campus sites for maintenance of those facilities has been difficult for those staff. The campus signed contracts some time ago when they first opened in order to provide facilities for physical education and art/music classes. In both these cases, the contract included the campus providing custodial services, but the need was so great for the space that the college agreed to the arrangement. Future contracts may not include the campus providing maintenance since as the campus increases facilities the need for off-campus sites may become less.

The Self-Study mentions some college needs: increased student parking, tracking for maintenance requests, more faculty offices especially ones with privacy, additional classrooms and labs. The team observed that very few classes are offered in the early morning and during the afternoon from about 2 to 5 p.m. This means that lack of classrooms and labs might be addressed during those hours when both classrooms and parking sites are available. Parking at mid-morning has become so severe that if the bond passes a parking facility will become the first structure proposed. At present the campus has only 500 spaces for 7200 students. Other new proposed buildings will be general-purpose buildings for classrooms with a space committee deciding which disciplines will use which facilities.

Equipment needs are met through various funding sources such as Block grant and VTEA allocations. Planning has been reactive to replacement and maintenance of equipment. Internet access is not available across the campus although new buildings are planned to include it. The library has a technology plan for providing new equipment and that plan will be folded into the college technology plan. In some cases, departments or areas have purchased materials, which are usually purchased by the college and located in a central facility such as the library. Without planning and oversight of purchases as well as coordination of technology, the college may be duplicating technology in more than one area. Furthermore, new buildings will mean an increased need for staff to maintain them and planning can take these needs into consideration.

The local site currently does maintenance contracts. The Facility Plant Manager compiles the five year scheduled maintenance plan for the Vice President of Administrative Services' review. The district office allocates 30% of the 50% match required for scheduled maintenance projects. In the event that Mission College does not have an adequate budget to cover their share of the local match, the projects are not accepted.

Since the Self-Study was written, the facilities area has added the master calendar to their responsibilities. This change was made in an effort to coordinate the needs for custodial care, room use, and security.

The new planning process will address the facilities and equipment planning needs of the campus. This has already begun with the planning that has taken place for the bond campaign. The campus plans to develop a five-year facilities plan after the fate of the bond measure is decided. Planning for facilities may become even more important as the district decentralizes since all projects up to $100,000 will be handled at the local level.

The facilities manager will probably hire project managers for new facilities rather than plan to use current staff when decentralization brings new projects to the campus for oversight.

The campus has struggled to meet the needs of students through its facilities by renovating where possible and funding facilities in innovative ways such as with yearly savings. If the bond campaign is successful, the campus goals will probably be realized within the constraints of the existing acreage. However, as the college grows, additional needs will surface and planning activities will need to be pro-active in seeking solutions.

The decentralization of the district office may address the college need to control off-campus contracts where maintenance has previously been provided by the college and where facilities are insufficient or inadequate.

The campus has struggled to do an adequate job of providing facilities and equipment for students to learn; everyone in the facilities area agrees that students are the ones who should benefit from the services of the unit. The new planning process should help the college decide on facility and equipment priorities as they match the college mission and goals.

7. The team recommends that the college conduct a thorough analysis of classroom utilization during low use periods to meet increased student enrollment. (Standard 8.1)

Los Angeles Mission College is in the process of significant operational changes throughout the college community. With the appointment of a new President in July of 2000 and with a district wide decentralization effort in process, the college is designing and implementing a process for institutional assessment and planning and institutional effectiveness. A piece of the new assessment plan focuses on effective management of physical and financial resources. It is premature to comment on the effectiveness of the new assessment and planning process. However, the plan was developed with college-wide input and has faculty and staff support. Assessment outcome measurements have not yet been identified; consequently, the process is not operational. The college Vice President for Administrative Services has set a two-year implementation period for the fiscal and physical piece of planning and assessment. Fiscal planning is on an annual basis. The assessment and planning process will provide tools and measures to assist the college in long range fiscal planning and assessment.

The LA District allocates funds to LA Mission College based on an allocation model designed three years ago. The allocation model begins with the prior year base budget and is augmented for COLA and growth revenue. Mission College receives 50% of its projected growth with the agreement that the balance is allocated after the growth is achieved. Growth revenue is adjusted at year-end once actual enrollment growth is known.

For the fiscal year 2001, the college budget initially included 7% growth. The college growth rate was increased to 12% in December 2000. This increase was due to the district-wide revised growth estimate of 12%. The college revised its spring and summer 2001 schedules to earn the additional FTES to reach 12% growth.

The allocation formula includes a charge to the college for the following:

1. LA Mission’s share of the district wide contingency
2. LA Mission’s share of district wide centralized services
3. LA Mission’s share of the district wide office functions

All of the colleges in the district are assessed their share of the above. These minimum base budgets are compared to actual needs. If the total projected Unrestricted General Fund revenue is insufficient to fund all the college needs, the district Chancellor determines a deficit factor to be applied to the minimum base allocation. This calculation results in budget surpluses for some colleges and budget deficits for other colleges. Colleges with surplus budgets subsidize the deficits of the other colleges.

The Los Angeles District allocates to LA Mission College their share of Partnership for Excellence (PFE), block grant funds and other restricted program funds based on FTES. These funds are allocated internally to college departments based on department priority lists. The PFE funds are allocated in part to departments who submit exemplary program proposals with measurable outcomes.

Each college department composed of one or more disciplines participates in the budget planning. Base budget allocations are based on prior year's actual expenditures. Each department submits a preliminary budget plan to the College Budget Committee and then to Administrative Services. College departments make budget augmentation requests to the Budget Committee based on priorities established in their departments. The college reconciles its budget plan to the preliminary budget allocation provided by the district.

As part of the allocation model, LA Mission receives its proportionate share of COLA. When the district negotiates salary agreements that exceed the allocated COLA, the college must reallocate its resources to cover the increased cost over the COLA.

LA Mission College is linked to the district financial systems, which provide financial and accounting services and reports. Both the college and district administrative staff agree that the district financial system is antiquated. Much of the processing is done manually which is inefficient and cumbersome. This causes a delay in processing college transactions and also inhibits timely management information. The district is in arrears in making payments to some of the college’s vendors. This has caused credit problems for the college. The district also has been late processing payroll claims and the subsequent payment to staff.

The college submits quarterly fiscal reports to the district office. The report reflects quarterly budget to actual revenue and expenditure information. The college Administrative Analyst compiles and reviews the college quarterly reports prior to submission to the district office. The college Administrative Analyst communicates with the college department chairs regarding the quarterly financial status.

The district is in the process of decentralizing purchasing and facilities, also. LA Mission College is not clear on the ultimate impact to the college from decentralization. The college has the responsibility for purchases and construction projects up to $100,000. The district has assigned a Regional Procurement Specialist to assist college staff with purchasing and negotiating contracts for purchases. The college administrative office also has the ability to make budget and salary expenditure transfers. The goal eventually is to allow the college to make all of their own expenditure transfers. Because the entire decentralization process is not yet in place, the team could not evaluate decentralization entirely. What has been validated is that decentralization has begun. College fiscal staff assesses the decentralized accounting process as more efficient than the former centralized processes. However, resources did not follow these increased duties at the college.

Enrollment management and planning is not in place at Mission College. The college does not plan for growth. They add sections to meet growth targets without a strategic education plan.

The district receives an annual audit of their financial statements. This includes the operations of LA Mission College. A management letter is included with the audit. The management letter provides findings and recommendations for the district.

The district is responsible for long-term debt payments and other long-term obligations. The college is responsible to budget for obligations of the college. The college obligations include long-term contracts for building and equipment rental, for maintenance, for capital outlay matches and other commitments.

The district pays retiree benefits until death. The annual pay-as-you go cost is $15,000,000. The district has not begun funding the unfunded liability for retiree benefits. The district has not had an actuarial study performed on the unfunded liability for retiree benefits. The district is not setting aside money to pay for future retiree benefits. Similarly, the district has not set aside a reserve for incurred but not reported workers compensation or property and liability claims.

The Office of the Vice President for Administrative Services negotiates contracts on behalf of the college. The District Board of Trustees approves contracts. The college budgets and makes the required contractual payments. The college reviews the contract terms and renews the contracts as necessary.

The college does not have a current disaster/emergency plan; however, the Vice President for Administrative Services is working with the Sheriff Department to update the previous plan dated 1993. Staff development funds are being used for this purpose.

Los Angeles Mission College is in the process of implementing significant changes college-wide. Administrators, faculty and staff reflect a strong sense of optimism and renewed college direction.

The district-wide budget allocation model is in its third year of operation and is a very complex model. District and college staffs question the model’s equity. As an example, LA Mission College was required to contribute a portion of their allocation to colleges whose budgets were in a deficit position. Both district and college staffs believe the model needs improvement. A District Budget Committee is reviewing the model. The LA Mission College President sits on this committee.

The college should be commended for establishing a 5% contingency reserve.

The district is in the process of decentralizing operations. As a result, the college is taking on more responsibilities. The college is also implementing a new program of assessment and planning and institutional effectiveness. This program is intended to provide the college with the tools to provide long range planning. Fiscally, decentralization has improved efficiency in some of the college fiscal operations. The college makes its own budget and salary transfers and is not required to wait for the district office to process these transactions. However, since decentralization is happening very quickly, the college has not had time to assess the full effectiveness of decentralization nor adequately train all staff involved with decentralization processes.

The absence of an enrollment management plan impacts the entire college negatively. Enrollment management provides an operational foundation both fiscally and educationally. Without such a plan, courses are offered arbitrarily and may not generate the growth FTES required.

Neither the district nor the college is budgeting for the future liabilities associated with retiree benefits, workers compensation claims or incurred but not reported property and liability claims. These unfunded liabilities could be significant.

8. The team recommends that additional modifications to the budget allocation model be made that would provide equity to the formula that better meets the needs of the colleges and the district. The formula should be designed to address economies of scale for the small colleges in the district. (Standard 9A)

The team validated the Self-Study including procedures concerning the election of the Board of Trustees, their terms of office and selection of Board officers; the implementation of the revised and updated decentralization/restructuring policy for the district and its nine colleges; and the Board’s annual review of its performance. Currently the board is revising the board evaluation instrument used last year. The longest tenure on the Board of current Board members is four years. The combination of new board members, a new chancellor, and a new president has created a supportive environment for the kinds of changes the District is attempting to implement.

The team observed congruence among Board representatives, the Chancellor, and the President with respect to the desire to decentralize and restructure, and the team observed that the Board, Chancellor, and President have embarked upon these changes in an effort to create and sustain a stronger district. The team heard comments that indicated appropriate concern regarding maintaining some synergism and economies within the district even though many of the district office functions are now the responsibility of the colleges. A strong commitment was expressed to hiring the kind of administrators who will be capable of functioning well in a more independent and interdependent environment than has existed in the district. A great deal of attention is being given to creating a district office that provides a new service environment to the colleges and where appropriate, the de-centralization of these services. The team found that it was apparent that the district administration is aware that district systems need to be automated, that staff development in nearly every area needs to be provided for the colleges, and that the formula for allocating funds across the district still leaves a great deal to be desired.

The team observed a meeting of the President’s Council in which the President obviously wanted the campus committees to be empowered and where it appeared that the non-administrators were not yet comfortable in participating on the council to the degree sought by the president. The team encourages the college to continue to work on implementing the governance structures through its committees so that all members will feel empowered to participate.

The team heard some concerns expressed related to the relationship of the college to the district. For example, the campus perceives problems with individual colleges having to "tithe" to support the district office as well as to pay for services provided by the district office. Some dissatisfaction on the campus also results from a lack of understanding on the part of the employee community of the role of the Mission College president: staff and faculty criticize the district for taking the president away from the campus to attend meetings and other events related to the district. The team encourages the college to support the President in this new empowered role.

The previous college organizational structure was based upon academic clusters; however, the disciplines within the clusters were not necessarily related. A departmental structure organized around related disciplines is in place at this time, but the original concern about structure seems to exist still since some disciplines appear to be in departments that are not cohesive. This organizational issue is also apparent in the reporting of the Library and Learning Resources Center as well as in some areas of Student Services. The College may decide to reorganize, and the team encourages the college to undertake such a task with care to arrange disciplines and create reporting lines that facilitate student learning and reflect the mission of the college.

Clearly, this is a college in transition located within a district in transition. The primary changes are related to the presence of a new and permanent Chancellor and Mission College President and the Board’s desire to become a more decentralized district. At this point it appears that the new Chancellor and President will have positive implications for LA Mission College. It is too early to tell what the net result of the decentralization efforts will be; however, it is possible that the district will need to retain more responsibility than the college currently perceives to be the case if the district is to achieve its potential.

Mission College has a number of strengths. The district chancellor and board are committed to strengthening the district through empowerment of the colleges and are proceeding in a systematic and deliberate manner to make this happen. The district is fast approaching a critical mass of strong, competent presidents who understand the value of the district functioning as a system with interdependent colleges rather than independent entities competing with one another. The new procedures for selection of college presidents allows for more community and faculty involvement. The new president at Mission College is eager to have more involvement of the employee community in the governance process, and the President’s Council has the potential to be the vehicle for this.

9. The team recommends that the college continue to place a high priority on improving communication and consultation among the employee community and the district/college administration and to actively foster and train staff and students to develop consistent participation in the governance committees and structures of the college. (Standards 7C.1, 7C.2, 10B.5, 10B.6, 10B.7, 10B.8, 10B.9, 10B.10, 10C.3, 10C.5)

10. The team recommends that the college review the organizational structure to ensure that reporting relationships are both effective and efficient and in accordance with the college's mission. (Standard 10B.3, B.5, B.6)

Appendix

Summary of Recommendations

STANDARD ONE: Institutional Mission

STANDARD TWO: Institutional Integrity

STANDARD THREE: Institutional Effectiveness

STANDARD FOUR: Educational Programs

STANDARD EIGHT: Physical Resources

STANDARD NINE: Financial Resources

STANDARD TEN: Governance and Administration

10. The Team recommends that the college review the organizational structure to ensure that reporting relationships are both effective and efficient and in accordance with the college’s mission (Standard 10B.3)