Two items are out for public comment through July 7, 2014: The proposed Standards of Accreditation (SoA) in Health Service Psychology and a revision to the time to completion threshold of Implementing Regulation (IR) D.4-7(b) for accredited doctoral programs.
Submit comments online via CoA’s public comment system.
In accordance with the APA “Policies for Accreditation Governance” and Department of Education regulations for notice and comment, CoA has made the proposed standards of accreditation and revision to IR D.4-7(b) available for a period of public review and comment. The public comment periods for both items continue through July 7, 2014. In an effort to promote thoughtful discussion, CoA is providing an electronic-based comment form for public comment submission. Comments and other information, including users' identity, will be public. Email addresses used for registration will be kept confidential. CoA will consider all comments received in moving forward with revisions to its standards of accreditation.
Standards of Accreditation
The proposed Standards of Accreditation (SoA) in Health Service Psychology remains open for public comment through July 7, 2014.
The proposed SoA represents a culmination of the two prior phases of public comment occurring during 2012 and 2013, conversations with training councils, and other discussions with stakeholders on the future of the discipline and profession. The proposed SoA signifies the next step forward and a continued opportunity to further build upon the dialogue between CoA and constituents.
The SoA consists of three parts representing each level of training: doctoral, doctoral internship and postdoctoral residency. Comments on any or all sections across each training level are welcome. For your convenience, summaries highlighting the changes from the Guidelines and Principles (G&P) and the SoA are available for each level of accreditation (doctoral, doctoral internship and postdoctoral residency).
Prior to viewing the standards and offering comments, you will be asked to review important details pertaining to the SoA and affirm that you have read this material. Please take the time to review this introduction.
Comments received from the prior two phases of comment continue to be available on the Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation webpage. You will also be able to access the current public comment system from the OPCA page.
Implementing Regulation (IR) D.4-7(b): Time to program completion threshold
As part of its responsibilities to ensure program quality between scheduled periodic reviews (self-study and site visit), CoA evaluates appropriate thresholds obtained through aggregate data collected by the Annual Report Online (ARO). In evaluating student performance required of accredited programs, CoA expects most students will complete their doctoral programs in not less than three years, nor more than seven full calendar years.
Based on analysis of ARO data collected over the most recent three-year period from 2011-2013, at its April 2014 meeting CoA proposed a revision to the time to completion threshold for students successfully completing a doctoral program across a three-year time period. The current mean and median year thresholds in IR D.4-7(b) are both set to greater than 7.5 years. The proposed change would continue the existing threshold at a mean of greater than 7.5 years but alter the median to be greater than 7.0 years for time to completion. CoA will look at programs when either the mean or median values on time to completion exceed these values.
This is the only change under consideration by CoA at this time; all other thresholds specified in IR D.4-7(b) remain unchanged and comments received on these items will not be reviewed by CoA at this time.
