
Accreditation
College accreditation is a guarantee that a college or program meets certain principles and provides quality education.
Red Rocks Community College is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission, 230 South LaSalle Street, Suite 7-500, Chicago, IL 60604. In addition, several programs hold approval or accreditation from national and state level associations and agencies. Red Rocks Community College follows the AQIP Accreditation Pathway.
College accreditation is a guarantee that a college or program meets certain principles and provides quality education.
The Emergency Management Services Program at Red Rocks Community College is approved by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. The Fire Academy is approved through the Colorado Division of Fire Safety, and the Law Enforcement Academy is approved by the Colorado Peace Officers Standards and Training Board (POST).
The Red Rocks Community College Medical Assisting Certificate Program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (www.caahep.org) upon the recommendation of MAERB.
Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs
1361 Park Street
Clearwater, FL 33756
727-210-2350
www.caahep.org
Our Medical Assisting AAS Degree meets all Colorado state accreditation requirements.
The Red Rocks Community College Radiologic Technology Program is accredited by the Joint Review Committee on Education in Radiologic Technology (JRCERT).
The Nurse Aid Program at Red Rocks Community College is accredited by the Colorado State Board of Nursing (DORA).
The Red Rocks Community College Physician Assistant Program is accredited by the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA).
In 2018, Red Rocks Community College joined the Higher Learning Commission's Open Pathway for Accreditation. The Open Pathway follows a 10-year cycle focused on quality assurance and institutional improvement. It is unique in that its improvement component, the Quality Initiative, affords institutions the opportunity to pursue improvement projects that meet their current needs and aspirations. The Quality Initiative takes place between years 5 and 9 of the 10-year cycle. A Quality Initiative project may be designed to begin and be completed during this time, or an institution may continue a project already in progress or achieve a key milestone in the work of a more extended initiative. The Quality Initiative allows institutions to take risks, aim high, and learn from only partial success or even failure.
HLC conducts Assurance Reviews to determine whether an institution is in compliance with the Criteria for Accreditation and other HLC requirements. The Assurance Review is conducted by itself in Year 4 of the 10-year accreditation cycle and is a part of the comprehensive evaluation in Year 10. Assurance review involves the institution preparing an Assurance Argument, which is shared with a team of peer reviewers that evaluate the evidence in the argument, prepare a report, and make a recommendation to the HLC decision-making body for continued accreditation.
To continue to build a quality culture at RRCC, we need everyone to function as one big team to improve student success while making the college a great place to work. We do this through the Executive Team, the Constituency groups, the college divisions, and the Collaboration Council, which has representation from all of the above. Based on college-wide planning and assessment results, these groups develop annual budget priorities. These priorities may be ongoing strategic directions or new initiatives. In either case, quality improvement for accreditation has the greatest importance. Coming from events and teams across the college, the following documents show what we have done in the past to improve quality.
The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) accredits Red Rocks Community College. HLC has three different pathways to accreditation. These are Candidate for Accreditation, the Standard Pathway, and the Open Pathway.
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The regional accreditors include the following.
College accreditation is a guarantee that a college or program meets certain principles and provides quality education.
The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) accredits Red Rocks Community College. HLC has three different pathways to accreditation. These are Candidate for Accreditation, the Standard Pathway, and the Open Pathway. Note that the former PEAQ pathway based on self-study, and the Academic Quality Improvement Program (AQIP) no longer exist. In 2003, RRCC voted to join the Academic Quality Improvement Program, a new reaccreditation and quality improvement process sponsored by the Higher Learning Commission. After successfully achieving re-affirmation of accreditation in 2018-19 under the AQIP Pathway, RRCC opted to follow the HLC Open Pathway.
No. While accreditation at the institutional level is necessary, national entities also accredit some Red Rocks programs. These include the following:
The Open Pathway works on a ten-year cycle that has the following activities, documents, and reviews.
Five areas that are especially important.
The Higher Learning Commission accredits Open Pathway institutions using (1) Assumed Institutional Practices and (2) Criteria and Core Components for Accreditation. RRCC writes assurance arguments and provides supporting data to document that it is addressing and meeting the Criteria and Core Components.
The Assumed Practices are a checklist of minimum standards that are shared by all institutions of higher education in the United States. The Criteria and Core Components for Accreditation are also standards of quality but will vary somewhat by institutional mission or context. Taken together, they are the “What” by which HLC determines whether an institution merits accreditation. Each Criterion has Core Components. The five Criteria are below.
Visit the Higher Learning Commission website for more information on Assumed Practices or the Criteria and Core Components under each Criterion.
RRCC needs to answer the question “How do we know what we need to do to improve?” Assessment refers to how we answer that question – the inquiry methods, results, and decisions we make to determine if we have accomplished our desired outcomes. HLC expects us to “close the loop” among planning, assessment, and budgeting. The key to this is to document clear evidence that instruction, student success, and administrative units:
While student learning outcomes are at the heart of our Mission, not all unit outcomes are directly about student learning. Student success also sets outcomes for student development. Administrative and business services outcomes create and maintain effective physical, technological, and fiscal learning environments for the college.
No. GT Pathways is a series of articulation agreements for approved transfer courses to four-year Colorado institutions. General education refers to the specific Common Learning Outcomes we want all RRCC students to learn by the time they complete their certificate or degree. HLC Criteria specify that the general education program of a college should be appropriate to the Mission, have intended student learning outcomes which are assessed, and imparts broad knowledge, intellectual concepts, and skills and attitudes that the institution believes every college-educated person should possess. General Education is the educational foundation that prepares students for success in their major program, and in their career and personal lives after graduation.