The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) is scheduled for a comprehensive visit to Barton Community College in October as part of its regular accreditation process, according to Myrna Perkins, the college’s chief accreditation officer.
Perkins gave an HLC update at Tuesday’s BCC Board of Trustees meeting, noting the required assurance agreement and federal compliance report had been uploaded Monday. The HLC review team will meet with the board of trustees at noon on Oct. 24 in the Cavanaugh Room at the college library. Team members will come from community colleges in five different states.
“This event requires a lot of logistics to work through for a day-and-a-half visit,” Perkins said. The team will be on a tight schedule that includes a quick tour of the campus.
Barton President Dr. Carl Heilman noted that the luncheon discussion will be an open meeting since the full board of trustees has been asked to attend.
One of the criteria the team will look at is Barton’s mission – how it is shared, what it means, and how educational programs and support services at the college align with the mission.
Perkins listed 10 possible items for discussion. Trustees will be asked what they know about HLC and accreditation, why the accreditation status is important to Barton, and whether they can describe how Barton’s mission guides the college. They may be asked about the college’s strengths and the greatest challenges it faces, as well as how the college plans to address challenges.
“I’m not telling you the answers,” Perkins said when reviewing the kinds of questions trustees can expect. But when it comes to the college’s strengths and challenges, she said, “Don’t hold back from sharing the successes that Barton has but also be candid about challenges and share what steps have been taken to address these.”
Perkins has experience as an HLC peer review team member. She said the evaluation process can be a learning experience. As a peer reviewer herself, she said she is satisfied that Barton is prepared for the HLC’s scrutiny.
“Barton is growing. It has a depth and breadth that is amazing; we don’t do anything second-rate.”
BCC mission
The monthly strategic planning report by Todd Mobray, director of institutional effectiveness, also touched on the college’s mission statement: “Barton offers exceptional and affordable learning opportunities supporting student, community, and employee needs.”
Each word of the mission statement – as well as the college’s vision statement – was chosen by the Executive Leadership Team after feedback, interactions and discussion with hundreds of students, community members, partnered businesses and employees, Mobray reported.
Monitoring report:
Fundamental skills
In other business, the trustees heard a monitoring report on “END 1: Fundamental Skills.”
“ENDS” are the college’s eight over-arching goals that guide board policy. END 1 states:
“Students will acquire the skills needed to be successful for the program they are in.”
Tuesday’s report came from Melissa Feist, coordinator of Adult Education; Jo Harrington, math instructor and coordinator of assessment; and Stephanie Joiner, executive director of Foundational Education.
Joiner discussed developmental education, noting that, on average, 12.5% of Barton’s student population takes at least one developmental course. “For Great Bend, it jumps to 15%.” These are remedial courses based on the college entry assessment of math, reading and English skills.
National studies on the effects of COVID-19 show that 2022’s fourth-graders’ math scores dropped 7 points, the largest drop since 1990. Reading scores dropped 5 points. This will have an impact on future college students, Joiner said. “On the college level we are seeing more students arrive without the necessary skills and we need to be planning for that moving forward.”
Part of the college’s response is increased collaboration between courses that allows instructors to provide more academic support to developmental students.
Personnel
The board also approved new personnel. Those hired to work on the Barton County campus are Lisa Stambaugh, secretary for Workforce Training Economic Development; Christopher Wonsetler and Rosa Reyes, custodians; and Eric Smith, academic coordinator for Central Kansas Upward Bound (CKUB).
Richard Snell was hired as an instructional specialist for Adult Basic Education and the General Educational Development (GED) program at the Great Bend office, and Justin Burdick was hired to a contract position as a military programs instructor at the Fort Riley Campus.
