Accreditation, as practiced by CAAHEP, is a systematic approach to asking and answering a simply-stated but fundamental question: How good is this educational program? Who wants to know how good an educational program is?
There are two aspects of "quality" in the world of accreditation. Or, you might say, there are two kinds of answers to the fundamental accreditation question: How good is this educational program?
Education programs serve the public interest as well as the interest of those who create and maintain them. Capable and successful students who master a quality course of study are likely to become capable and successful practitioners; some will go on to be leaders in their chosen professions; some will go on to become educators in these professions. Accreditation is one instrument by which the society at large maintains and, over time, improves and modernizes health services.
There are more than 32,000 accredited individual educational programs in the United States, including more than 2,2600 programs under the CAAHEP umbrella. [Obviously, you are not alone in this accreditation activity; and you are not being singled out. It's part and parcel of being an educator.]
At the heart of the CAAHEP accreditation system are our nationally-recognized Standards. All CAAHEP Standards have certain elements in common, however the Standards for each discipline contain specific requirements for training entry level practitioners in that profession.
Most CAAHEP Standards are expressed in terms of outcomes -- as exemplified by such things as Certification and licensure test results, employment rates, employer satisfaction, and success by graduates when they start to practice their profession.
Cognitive, Psychomotor, Affective - Words in Standards about Curriculum...
There are several different statuses in accreditation. The most common are Initial Accreditation, which is achieved the first time a program is granted accreditation, and Continuing Accreditation, which is achieved the second and future times the program successfully completes the accreditation review process.
Accreditation - the process by which educators and their peers work together to observe and to improve professional education - would not work if it were not for hundreds of dedicated volunteers and dozens of staff members working in a complex organizational structure.
What do you need to review? Who do you need to contact? How do you prepare?
While accreditation is an ongoing process, every few years you will experience two large activities that will stand out for you as the most important, most valuable, most time-consuming and (if you do them well) most rewarding activities: The Self Study and the Site Visit.
What happens if your program does not meet CAAHEP Standards and the recommendation is adverse? What does that mean and how can this be reversed?
