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MCC Daily Tribune Archive

Middle States: Did You Know ...?


MCC is in the process of achieving reaccreditation by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. Led by Community College of Allegheny County President Dr. Quintin Bullock (formerly DCC executive dean), evaluation team members will visit MCC March 13-16 to follow up on MCC’s self-study report and assess MCC’s compliance with accreditation standards. When the Middle States team visits, they will engage in conversations (scheduled or through chance encounters) with any number of individuals across campus about MCC. Our weekly “Did You Know” column aims to help you better understand MCC’s reaccreditation process and to become more aware of the contents of the self-study report. To read MCC’s self-study report, go to "https://www.monroecc.edu/go/middlestates"

Did you know ... the College has developed a rigorous sequence of developmental courses geared toward setting underprepared students on a path toward academic success?

TRS and English faculty collaborated on the recent redesign of TRS English courses. All developmental English courses were re-crafted to support the fundamental reading needs of students that, when unaddressed, inhibit success across all coursework.  This reduced the three semester non-credit preparatory sequence down to two semesters, identified reading deficits, and provided students with a shorter, more seamless route to ENG101: College Composition.  Additionally by working in close collaboration with Mathematics faculty, the ESOL/TRS department developed a flexible-pace option for TRS students to move through their mathematics sequence. This new modularized curriculum allows students to progress at their own pace and complete TRS 092: Basic Mathematics and TRS 094: Pre-Algebra in a single semester if able, allowing them to move more quickly to credit-bearing mathematics courses and other classes with mathematics prerequisites.

-- Mary Rizzo and Susan Bender (Standard 13:  Related Educational Activities)


Did you know … MCC has a standing Faculty Senate committee dedicated to assessment of student learning?

Organized under the Faculty Senate Curriculum Committee, the College Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE) committee is charged with the creation and review of policies and processes related to academic assessment.  In addition to the broad faculty engagement with assessment, CAPE’s work has contributed significantly to the institution’s establishment of a system of organized and sustainable assessment.​ CAPE has written both Foundations IV and Foundations 4.1, which serve as the basis for MCC's assessment and evaluation procedures and include the history of assessment at MCC as well as current assessment policies and processes. Besides producing the Foundations IV and Foundations 4.1, the CAPE committee developed "Program Evaluation Guidelines," "Accredited Program Evaluation Guidelines," "Assessment of Distance Education Guidelines," "External Review Team Guidelines," and a very important document, "Academic Assessment of Student Learning and Program Evaluation: Faculty/Department Rights and Responsibilities." The role of the CAPE committee has been growing over the past six years and the committee is currently the primary policy-making group on academic assessment, leading and representing faculty interests in academic assessment. Over the past five years, the CAPE committee has reviewed completed assessment projects for innovative practices in assessment, awarding project leaders for the most notable innovations. This is the first step in moving toward the development of a peer-review system of completed assessment projects that will emulate the College's peer-review process for curriculum development and revision.

-- Wanda Willard and Elena Dilai (Standard 14:  Assessment of Student Learning)

Bill Dunning and Holly Preische
Middle States
03/07/2016