Louisiana Delta Community College Placed on Probation

Louisiana Delta Community College’s accreditation status is in danger of being taken away.

On June 14, 2018, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) placed the community college on probation after a review by the commission’s Board of Trustees.

“Louisiana Delta Community College was continued in accreditation for Good Cause and placed on Probation because SACSCOC’s Board of Trustees determined that while the institution met the conditions for Good Cause, it had failed to demonstrate compliance with Standard 8.2.a (Student outcomes: educational programs) and Standard 13.3 (Financial responsibility),” the accrediting body said in the disclosure statement. “These standards expect an institution (1) to identify expected student learning outcomes, assess the extent to which it achieves these outcomes, and provide evidence of seeking improvement based on analysis of the results for each of its educational programs; and (2) to exercise appropriate control over all its financial resources.”

Louisiana Delta chancellor Dennis Epps believes that the only thing that needs work is its student outcomes.

“It’s not like it’s as simple as passing an f with a certain completion rate oh that would be so simple. But what it is really looking at is specific things that students should demonstrate competence on,” Epps told KNOE.

Other LDCC leaders said they weren’t showing SACSCOC how they were assessing the students.

To try to address this issue, LDCC created a task force to ensure that they’re in compliance with SACSCOC accreditation policies.

“It’s not that we’re not effective in the classroom. I know for a fact that our instructors do this kind of assessments every day,” said Dr. Dan Corsi, vice chancellor for academic affairs. “But, SACS wants you to formalize it and communicate it in a way that LDCC is committed to a process of faculty development.”

LDCC will be reviewed again by SACSCOC in June 2019.

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