Central Arizona College (CAC) had a Quality Checkup Visit on March 25-27, 2014. The Quality Checkup Visit is an important part of the regular AQIP cycle that occurs prior to reaffirmation of accreditation. Components of the AQIP Quality Checkup Visit are:

1. Systems Portfolio Clarification and Verification
2. Systems Appraisal Follow-Up
3. Accreditation Issues Follow-Up
4. Federal Compliance Review
5. Organizational Quality Commitment

CAC’s AQIP Quality Checkup Visit was conducted by two trained and experienced AQIP Reviewers — Gloria Dohman, Ph.D., Accreditation Liaison Officer, North Dakota State College of Science and Donna Wood, Ph.D., Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, Tulsa Community College.

AQIP Quality Checkup Visit Documents:

1. Quality Checkup Visit Agenda
2. AQIP Quality Program Summary
3. AQIP Federal Compliance Review
4. Check-Up Visit eResource Room
5. Quality Checkup Visit Report

Historically, the purpose of the Central Arizona College Quality Council (formerly the North Central Association Steering Committee) has been driven by accreditation. With the emphasis of district-wide quality, a need existed for an entity to coordinate, monitor, and provide leadership in the development and implementation of quality initiatives. Therefore, the Quality Council is responsible for coordinating college quality initiatives with accreditation requirements.

The Quality Council also provides leadership and training in the development and implementation of quality initiatives and serves as a resource to the college for quality improvement. This will include serving on quality initiative teams as a quality liaison and coordinating college initiatives with accreditation activities (Action Projects, Systems Portfolio, Systems Appraisal, Strategy Forum, Check-Up Visit, and Reaffirmation).

To facilitate the continuous quality improvement process, the President appoints representatives, deemed experts in their area, from each college constituency group across the district. The council works closely with the college’s academic and support operations to ensure efforts that the best practices for improvement initiatives are employed. Units within the college use appropriate results to identify opportunities for improvement. These results include the CAC Systems Portfolio and Appraisal, Academic Program Review, and other institutional assessments and data. Appropriate units tackle smaller improvement initiatives on their own and are encouraged to complete CAC’s Quality Improvement Record.

Broader institutional initiatives typically employ the support of the Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Advancement through the Quality Initiatives Proposal process. The Quality Council owns this process with the intention of quality inititiative proposals moving forward to the President and Cabinet for consideration. Quality initiatives can emerge from a variety of sources. Based on results from an evaluative tool (survey, needs assessment or formal program review), a unit or employee may propose a quality initiative. A quality initiative may result from an Academic Quality Improvement Program (AQIP) activity such as the Systems Portfolio, Systems Appraisal or Strategy Forum. The Quality Council, as a representation of each constituent group, moves the proposal forward with the the vice president of the area that is most impacted by the proposal as the process owner. These vice presidents share the Cabinet’s decision and any related recommendations with the Quality Council.

Content on this page is provided by Accreditation & Quality Initiatives.

One of the Academic Quality Improvement Program’s (AQIP) core processes, the systems Portfolio “describes key systems and processes the organization uses to achieve its goals and the performance results it obtains from them. During the first four years of participation, an organization assembles a Systems Portfolio with broad faculty and staff involvement. This document is essential for the systems Appraisal that AQIP conducts three years after the organization is accepted to partcipate in AQIP. The systems Portfolio consists of an Organizational Overview and explicates each of the major systems employed to accomplish an organization’s mission and objectives. The organization answers specific questions for each of the nine AQIP Categories. For each system, the questions deal with, processes, results, and improvement. The Organizational Overview presents a capsule picture that helps readers understand the organization’s key strengths and ambitions, as well as the challenges and conflicts it faces.”

The Systems Portfolio is a record of CAC’s activities with regard to the nine key processes of AQIP and acts as a

• high-quality, actionable feedback on CAC’s strengths & opportunities from a team of quality imporvement experts and educators,
• body of evidence to show the Higher Learning Commission that CAC is meeting its Criteria for Accreditation,
• common reference point that lets everyone at CAC share an understanding of how we are organized, what are our key processes, what kind of performance those processes produce, and how we improve,
• planning tool that helps us share the institution’s future agenda and concentrates everyone’s attention on those areas that should be the focus for scrutiny for improvement,
• body of evidence, over time, that AQIP is working to CAC’s advantage, and that our continued participation in the program makes sense,
• public information and relations tool that lets all of our stakeholders understand clearly and persuasively what we are accomplishing with our resources

Content on this page is provided by Accreditation & Quality Initiatives.

2012 CAC Systems Portfolio

• 2012 Systems Portfolio Guide
• The AQIP Categories and the Criteria for Accreditation: locations for evidence
• Central Arizona College Systems Portfolio (November 2012)
• Central Arizona College Systems Portfolio with Category Questions and Core Components (November 2012)
• Central Arizona College Systems Appraisal (March 2013)
• 2012 Systems Portfolio and Appraisal with Questions and Core Criteria_042913
• Central Arizona College e-folio website
• Systems Appraisal Feedback – Response to O&OOs
• Quality Checkup Visit
• Quality Checkup Visit Report
• Quality Highlights Report

Narrative of 2008 CAC Systems Portfolio Process

• Central Arizona College Systems Portfolio (November 2008)
• Central Arizona College Systems Appraisal (March 2009)
• Higher Learning Commission (HLC) Index
• Timeline-2008 CAC Systems Portfolio
• Survey of Systems Portfolio Process
• Central Arizona College e-folio website

  Thoughts for the Future (2012)

Narrative of 2004 CAC Systems Portfolio Process

• Central Arizona College Systems Portfolio (May 2004)
• Central Arizona College Systems Appraisal (January 2005)
• Central Arizona College Quality Checkup Visit (February 2007)
• Central Arizona College Reaffirmation of Accreditation Recommendation (2007-2008)

Content on this page is provided by Accreditation & Quality Initiatives.