October 2012 Alerts
Alerts
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The Commission on Massage Therapy Accreditation (COMTA) would like to bring your attention to the following announcements discussed at the October 17-19, 2012 meeting:
1) COMTA Executive Committee – Ms. Beverley Giroud resigned from her position with the Executive Committee. Our current Commissioner, Dr. Patricia Maloney was nominated to fill the open position. To review the Commissioner’s bios, please click here.
2) Standard 3.1.5 – The Commissioners discussed what type of training is considered adequate for “undergraduate proficiency” for anatomy and physiology instructors. It is typical for all instructors of the basic sciences to have earned an academic education in each specific topic or discipline of teaching that is at a level greater than the level of the course(s) being taught. Since COMTA requires “undergraduate proficiency” the Commission has added a definition to the Appendix C: Definition of Terms for clarification. To review this document, please click here.
3) Completion, Placement and Licensure Chart Clarification – The Commission confirmed that to be considered a “transfer in” or “transfer out” on the Appendix D.12 Completion, Placement and Licensure chart, a student must be changing to another program within the same school. This is a clarification of the Appendix D.12a: Student Achievement Reporting Instructions. To review this document, please click here.
4) Peer Reviewer Training Manual – Accreditation is about self-governance and review by one’s peers, and this process cannot be accomplished without dedicated volunteers. We are very grateful for the expertise, commitment, and hard work that peer reviewers bring to COMTA and our schools. As part of their commitment, we have created a peer review training manual and site visit forms so that reviewers are familiar with any changes to our policies and procedures. These will be given to all current and any new reviewers who join the COMTA team. As a continued token of our appreciation, the reviewers will be awarded $100 honorarium for off-site documentation review and $100 honorarium for each site visit conducted. In addition, all expenses will be reimbursed. We also hope that reviewers will find the work rewarding as we work together to maintain quality education in massage and esthetics.
5) New Application Form (Renewal and Initial Applicants) – The application for accreditation that is currently used for both renewal and initial applicants has been revised in the TaskStream system. There will no longer be a word document to complete and upload to TaskStream. For all renewal and new applicants applying after November 15, 2012, please use the new application form in TaskStream. For new initial applicants you must contact the COMTA office to retrieve login access for the TaskStream system.
6) Preaccreditation Status – The Commission has decided to explore a new status for schools committed to working toward COMTA accreditation but not yet meeting all the Standards of Accreditation. This status would allow the school a modified recognition while working toward full compliance with the standards. The status is in a pilot stage and will be conducted with a small sample group to refine the process. If your school is interested in being considered for the pilot group, please contact the COMTA staff.
Be sure to check the COMTA website regularly for actions and alerts. The Commission updates all pertinent actions and alerts on its website. Please promptly inform COMTA if your school/program has any new contact information.
If you have comments regarding any of the schools on this list please contact the COMTA office. For additional information concerning this memorandum, please contact Kate Zulaski, Executive Director, at 202-895-1518 x.849, or via email at kzulaski@comta.org. You may also email the chair of the Commission at chair@comta.org.