Accreditation Q&A

the uncertain future of accreditation

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/09/05/qa-uncertain-future-accreditation

 

This accreditation issue bugs me constantly. As part of my job in education, I oversee programs that are both regionally and nationally/programmatically accredited. SACSCOC is regional, and then multiple national/programmatic accreditors such as ACEN, CAPTE, CoAEMSP and other healthcare accreditation bodies are always in my line of sight. They're all accepted by CHEA and USDE. The national accreditors generally seem to focus on specialty schools (DEAC = online schools, COE = tech schools, TRACS = Bible schools, etc). What is frustrating is that acceptance of certain nationally accredited degrees even from DEAC are frowned upon when compared to RA, even though many NA's are much more rigid when it comes to faculty credentials, retention rates, etc. The things that lay a foundation for academic and student success vary so much between these accreditors, which makes the blanket "stink-eye" given to NA degrees very frustrating.

RA schools like Liberty who offer so many online degrees, but have only adjunct faculty to manage them (see LU's MPH in Nutrition, in which they seem to have no FT Nutrition faculty, and the faculty listed as instructor of record aren't even the ones doing the lectures. Nurses are!) are considered higher than a DEAC degree from California Coast just because it is RA. Schools that are actually good schools at what they do (Columbia Southern and even St Augustine, formerly) are getting flack for really no good reason.

Now, I'm off my soapbox

 

Fair points, thanks!
I'm curious about St. Augustine. Of course, it's RA & programmatically accredited, now. It's true that they seem to be very good at what they do. My question is, how? They teach Physical Therapy on professional level, and they used to be DEAC. How do you run an online DPT school and get students as successful at licensure exams as St. Augustine does? Isn't it a hands-on field?

 

Yeah, so St Aug is no longer DEAC (though their former president is now on the DEAC commission), but is WASC RA. Their Flex program is a hybrid model. Didactics are done online in either synchronous or asynchronous format. They have periodic on campus labs. Baylor is now doing the same thing, and a few other programs are in the process of developing the same model, some even at an accelerated pace. So it isn't entirely online, and proof in the pudding is showing that these folks are still passing the boards at similar rates to traditional programs. St Augs is actually "de-celerated", in that, the DPT program is a 3-year program stretched over 4 years, allowing people to work. Baylor's (and others) are 2-year programs, which are incredibly intense.

 

Cool, thanks. That is interesting. It was clear USAHS is doing something innovative; now I know. Allowing people to work while pursuing (very expensive) professional degree in healing arts strikes me as great service to students. Kudos.

 

Well, just to be clear about USAHS, while they are a very solid accredited school, the "Flex" offering of DPT is NOT cost-effective. So being able to work while attending may not actually be a bonus. Check into it yourself if you're a potential student there....

 

Many online degrees are not cost effective when self funding. When you throw employer tuition assistance into the mix, however, then you can justify all sorts of school picks (like an MBA from the University of Scranton, for example).

As an aside, the DPT was one of the first online programs offered by the University of Scranton. It was offered to PTs who were already licensed and had Masters degrees before the DPT managed to become a first professional degree.

Back when I was selecting schools the license qualifying program was still a bachelors degree but BS/MS Combination programs were increasingly common. Times they are a changin.