Accreditation Grant Length
Proposed Change
To view in pdf document, please click here: Grant Length Revision Proposal – April 2017
At its April 18-19, 2017 meeting, the Commission approved a proposal to adjust the length of the grant of accreditation. This action is subject to a period of public comment before ratification.
Background
COMTA’s length of accreditation grant had historically been five (5) years. In March 2014, the Commission extended the grant to seven (7) years to ease the burden of accreditation for both schools and the newly limited resources of COMTA staff. The intention was to institute a “check-in” review process halfway through the grant to ensure continued compliance.
Update/Rationale
- Further analysis has determined that this check-in process is not financially viable for COMTA without imposing additional fees to its members.
- Creating check-in review procedures creates redundant and potentially confusing work for Commission and school staff.
- Extended grant lengths without an intermediate review period jeopardizes the integrity of the accreditation process.
- The innovative new Dual Accreditation Joint Process with ACCSC is not feasible with variant grant lengths and would penalize schools which wish to participate.
Proposal – Adopt the following accreditation grant lengths:
- Maximum three (3) years for initial applicants
- Maximum five (5) years for renewal applicants with the possibility of one (1) additional year for an Institution/Program of Excellence.
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- “Institution/Program of Excellence” is defined as a school or program achieving renewal of accreditation with no conditions with current student outcomes meeting COMTA benchmarks, has had no adverse actions (probation, show cause) in the last grant cycle, and is current on all reports and fees.
Effective Date/Grandfathering Clause
The Commission intends to review the proposal and public comments at its July 2017 meeting. If ratified and enacted at this meeting:
- Effective date of implementation: All complete applications (initial and renewal) submitted after July 1, 2017.
- Those schools/programs who submitted applications prior to July 1, 2017 (and thus in the application process) would be grandfathered into the current 7-year cycle.
TO SUBMIT A COMMENT:
This change is open for a public comment period before ratifying and enacting. Upon review of the proposal, to submit a comment, you may do so be sending an email to chair@comta.org with subject line “Grant Length Public Comment”.
All comments must be submitted by June 15, 2017 to be considered.