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Washington State Quality Awards Standards

Washington State Quality Awards (WSQA) and
Northwest Commission on College and University Accreditation

Background

In 2005, the Washington State Legislature passed a law requiring all state agencies, including colleges, to undergo ongoing independent assessments of organizational quality. Washington Association for Community and Technical Colleges (WACTC) representatives and the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) staff members requested that Gov. Gregoire review Northwest Commission on College and University (NWCCU) accreditation standards and processes, required of all community and technical colleges, as a means of satisfying Washington State Quality Award (WSQA) standards. A review process comparing WSQA and NWCCU standards was initiated in 2008 and included an extensive crosswalk by colleges and an independent consultant review.

On Nov. 10, 2008, Gov. Gregoire issued a decision that Northwest Commission on College and University accreditation satisfies the Washington State Quality Award standards under RCW 43.17.390.  

SBCTC submitted its first SBCTC WSQA assessment application in October 2009.

The community and technical college system is required to meet additional requirements to fully comply with WSQA standards:

  • Each college will post its most recent full accreditation report on its website. Information will be updated per accreditation review cycle.
  • Each college will post a brief list of NWCCU accreditation commendations and recommendations related to its most recent accreditation visit on its college website.
  • Colleges will complete an annual status report on accreditation progress and submit the status report to SBCTC by Nov. 15 of each year.
  • SBCTC will post Student Achievement Initiative information for each college by Nov. 15 of each year.
College NWCCU Accreditation
Information Web Page
Annual Status Report
2021-2022
Bates Technical College Bates Report
Bellevue College Bellevue Report
Bellingham Technical College Bellingham Report
Big Bend Community College Big Bend Report
Cascadia College Cascadia Report
Centralia College Centralia Report
Clark College Clark Report
Clover Park Technical College Clover Park Report
Columbia Basin College Columbia Basin Report
Edmonds College Edmonds Report
Everett Community College Everett Report
Grays Harbor College Grays Harbor Report
Green River College Green River Report
Highline College Highline Report
Lake Washington Institute of Technology Lake Washington Report
Lower Columbia College Lower Columbia Report
North Seattle College North Seattle Report
Olympic College Olympic Report
Peninsula College Peninsula Report
Pierce College Pierce Report
Renton Technical College Renton Report
Seattle Central College Seattle Central Report
Shoreline Community College Shoreline Report
Skagit Valley College Skagit Valley Report
South Puget Sound Community College South Puget Sound Report
South Seattle College South Seattle Report
Spokane Community College Spokane Report
Spokane Falls Community College Spokane Falls Report
Tacoma Community College Tacoma Report
Walla Walla Community College Walla Walla Report
Wenatchee Valley College Wenatchee Valley Report
Whatcom Community College Whatcom Report
Yakima Valley College Yakima Report

 

Page Manager: rbert@sbctc.edu
Last Modified: 2/23/23, 2:48 AM

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