Copyright© 2007 by School Services of California, Inc.

                                      Volume 20                   For Publication Date: April 27, 2007             No. 10

Compton Comprehensive Assessment Report Released 

On April 19, 2007, the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team (FCMAT), completed and issued the comprehensive review of the overall operations of Compton Community College (now operating as the Compton Education Center of El Camino College). 

This is the fourth in a series of articles on AB 318 and the Compton situation. FCMAT completed and issued the comprehensive review in accordance with Assembly Bill 318. The urgency statute, signed by Governor Schwarzenegger on June 30, 2006, after the bill received bipartisan support from the Legislature, granted authority to the Chancellor and Board of Governors to operate the college district. AB 318 helped keep the doors open at Compton and provided a $30 million dollar recovery loan for use in corrective actions and rebuilding efforts. One of those corrective actions called for a comprehensive review. Yet, according to the legislation, the comprehensive assessment and recovery plan was to be delivered to the Chancellor’s Office and the Department of Finance “on or before January 31, 2007,” making the document more than two months late. 

The assessment is designed to provide a path or outline to the fiscal and academic recovery of the Compton District. The report breaks performance measures down into 186 separate components, each of which relates to one of the four overall standards required by the Accrediting Association of Junior and Community Colleges (ACCJC). This document marks the first step the district will need to take in obtaining fully recovery for Compton Community College.

Since the withdrawal of its accreditation in August of 2006, Compton Community College District (CCCD) has worked to provide uninterrupted educational services to students in partnering with El Camino Community College. Under this partnership, instructional services are provided on the Compton campus under the El Camino College Compton Community Educational Center. The CCCD still retains responsibility of the budget and finance, including the payroll, bond, facilities, and employees of the Compton District and the El Camino College Compton Center. 

According to the report, FCMAT’s work with CCCD and the El Camino College Compton Center is intended to assist the district in improving its basic operations for an eventual return to local governance, and in taking the necessary steps to regain its accreditation. The report provides the FCMAT team assessment of the district with recommendations for the district to address as a recovery plan.   

FCMAT assessed the district using 335 professional and legal standards for the assessment and recovery plan, providing an in-depth review, and a baseline score for each standard. Each standard was measured for completeness and a relative scaled score from zero (not met) to ten (fully met) was applied. A subset of standards—186 in each of the ACCJC standards areas—was identified to assist the district in focusing its efforts to successfully achieve recovery and a return to local governance. This subset of 186 standards in the four ACCJC standards areas will be the focus of ongoing six-month progress reviews conducted in the district. The ACCJC standards are: 

§       27 of 37 standards in ACCJC Standard I-A and I-B, Mission and Effectiveness

§       16 of 28 standards in ACCJC Standard II-A, II-B and II-C, Student Learning

§       40 of 82 standards in ACCJC Standard III-A, Human Resources

§       41 of 71 standards in ACCJC Standard III-B, Physical Resources

§       41 of 88 standards in ACCJC Standard III-C Technology, and III-D Financial Resources

§       21 of 29 standards in ACCJC Standard IV-A, IV-B Leadership and Governance 

One hundred and eighty-six of the 355 total standards make up the subset of standards. 

According to the report: 

When the average score of the subset of standards within an ACCJC standard or standard subdivision reaches a level of six, and progress is considered to be substantial and sustainable, and no individual standard in the subset is below a four, FCMAT will recommend to the Chancellor of the Community College system that the criteria has been met in this particular area and that this operational area could be considered for return to the local district governing board. It is conceivable that the governing board will regain local authority on an incremental basis, as the criteria are met in each of the ACCJC standard areas.  

What the report asserts is that, while progress is slow, reestablishing accreditation and a return to local governance is attainable for CCCD. 

In conclusion, the report articulates some specifics the district needs to engage in. For example, the district will need to establish a campuswide culture that values customer service and set clear expectations of staff responsiveness and accountability, which will help to win students back to the campus. 

“As the comprehensive review indicates, the college is starting from a difficult place in that years of neglect and mismanagement have seriously eroded the fundamental integrity of the institution. The comprehensive review is the first step towards recovery and a clear direction for the necessary steps of re-accreditation,” said Chancellor Drummond. 

The next progress report is due in November. 

The 685 page comprehensive review is available on the FCMAT website at: www.fcmat.org.

—Jamillah Moore, Ed.D.