Accreditation in the United States Joseph Vibert, ASPA Executive - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

State of Play of Specialized and Professional Accreditation in the United States

Joseph Vibert, ASPA Executive Director May 2016; Berlin

Accreditation Environment

• Recognition
• Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA)
• US Education Department (ED)/ Congress/

Administration

• States
• Institutional Accreditors – Regional, National
• Specialized and Professional Accreditors

Association of Specialized and Professional Accreditors Page 2

Regulation of Higher Education

3

Accreditors

Quality, continuous improvement

• Institutional
• Regional
• National
• Programmatic (specialized, professional)

Federal Government

HEA funding programs and non-HEA “links” for recognition

• Regulations
• Guidelines/subregulation

States

• authorization of institutions
• licensure, certification of

professions

Council for Higher Education Accreditation

Voluntary non-federal recognition

Triad

Congress

• statutes
• politics

Administration

Association of Specialized and Professional Accreditors

Current Issues

• Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act - overdue
• high cost of higher education; poor access; low completion
• bad players – more, new regulations
• Gainful employment regulations
• Teacher preparation regulations
• Innovation - delivery methods
• Distance education
• Competency-based education and prior learning assessment
• “extra-institutional” providers
• calls for
• improved system of accreditation – accountability
• alternative pathways – risk-based approach
• alternative accreditors – current system creates barriers

Association of Specialized and Professional Accreditors Page 4

Accountability

• What are accreditors doing to protect students?
• How can bad players be accredited up until they go
• ut of business?
• (ACICS/Corinthian)
• Why aren’t accreditors looking more at outcomes and

setting outcome benchmarks?

• Transparency agendas
• ED/NACIQI and CHEA calling for more information to

be made public

Association of Specialized and Professional Accreditors Page 5

Specialized and Professional Accreditation

• Public and lawmaker perception that all accreditors are

the same

• Membership organizations (old boys club)
• Accreditors do not hold institutions accountable for

acceptable outcomes.

• Institutions rarely lose accreditation
• Programmatic accreditors look at outcomes
• 100% of ASPA members – accreditor or program

determined or combination

• 93% have competency requirements – entry-to-

practice

• 52% set benchmarks (licensed fields)

Association of Specialized and Professional Accreditors Page 6

Questions

Association of Specialized and Professional Accreditors Page 7