Doris Gordon, Executive Director
Accreditation Commission for Audiology Education (ACAE)
February 2, 2009

Thoughts on Accreditation

An accreditation evaluation is usually conducted once every five, seven, or ten years. The evaluation involves compliance with a set of educational standards that covers all aspects of a program’s curriculum. The process is an opportunity for faculty, students and administrators to assess student outcomes and reflect on a program’s past, present and future. To accomplish this, a procedure is followed: a) completion of a self-study document; b) an on-site evaluation; c) publication of the program status; d) monitoring and; e) reevaluation.

The Self-Study Document:
Preparation for a self-study begins about a year before it’s due and it’s natural to assume the process is onerous. This perception is based on two factors - that the document takes an enormous amount of time to complete and it’s for the benefit of gatekeepers.

True, it is for gatekeepers. It’s good to be accountable to peers, but also, it’s one of the best evaluative experiences and learning tools for programs. A self-study is exactly what it states, a dimensional look at one’s goals, objectives, assessments, purpose and mission. It’s an opportunity to reflect candidly on accomplishments and shortcomings of past years, evaluate the present state of affairs and propose plans for the future. A curriculum takes stock of itself and examines where it’s going.

The On-Site Evaluation:
After submission of a self-study and before an actual site visit, the faculty, students and administrators should be able to answer any question from the accreditation on-site team with ease. The team visits an institution for two to three days verifying, validating and determining if a program complies with the Standards. They present a recommendation to members of the program at the end of the visit and, subsequently, to the Board of Directors who makes the final decision.

Publication of a Program’s Status:
At the conclusion of the process, the program’s status is listed in an official publication of the accrediting agency. In addition, a program publishes its full status in one or more of its institutional publications. When programs are granted accreditation, these announcements are proud moments, not only for the stamp of approval, but for the comprehensive understanding they have about their own program.

Monitoring:
Between cycles, a program is monitored on an annual or biennial basis. This review verifies that it continues to meet the agency’s standards. If a program cannot meet these standards, the accrediting agency has the prerogative to investigate, ask for reports or send a team back to the campus on a fact-finding visit.

Reevaluation:
The program is reevaluated periodically to ascertain whether continuation of its accredited status is warranted.

Conclusion:
ACAE has developed a powerful web-based tool to take the ‘sting’ out of accreditation. It’s an efficient online system that allows a program to go through the entire process up to the on-site visit. The faculty enter data, save it and develop narratives for the self-study document. They dialogue with site evaluators in the virtual interactive evaluation before the physical on-site and ultimately experience many benefits of the ACAE Computerized Program (CAP). Two such benefits are the retrieval of information for accreditation/ internal reviews, and the ability of a program to evaluate its analyzed data against aggregate data from other programs.

CAP was designed to assist programs with the thought-provoking assignment of complying with standards by using state-of-the-art technology of the 21st century.

acae  Telephone • 202.986.9500  or 202.544.9339   Email • info@acaeaccred.org