The Commission on Accreditation (CoA) held its annual policy meeting Jan. 28-31, 2016, in Washington, D.C. At this meeting, CoA welcomed five new members:
- Georita Frierson, PhD (CoA open seat).
- Ellen Koch, PhD (CUDCP seat).
- Monica Kurylo, PhD (institutional practice seat).
- Cami McBride, PhD (COGDOP seat).
- Cathy McDaniels Wilson, PhD (independent practice seat).
These members attended new member orientation on Jan. 27, and were joined by Doug Behrend, PhD, who filled the vacant Board of Scientific Affairs seat in October 2015.
CoA identified two main areas on which it will focus in 2016: program review and the transition to the (Standards of Accreditation) SoA.
- Program Review: The main charge of CoA is to promote consistent quality and excellence in education and training in professional psychology. As is customary, CoA spent the majority of the first day of the meeting completing a calibration exercise. The annual calibration exercise focused on the nature of the language provided in decision letters to programs. The results of this exercise helped to improve the clarity and consistency of the language used in communication with programs.
- Transition to the SoA: In 2016, CoA will dedicate its time outside of program review to the transition to the SoA. Transition tasks include 1) developing policy documents clarifying aspects of the SoA, 2) drafting a glossary that will define common terms, and 3) continuing to develop FAQs for the public.
In addition to identifying main focus areas, policy and work groups finalized in-person training slides for the SoA, identified potential glossary terms, and began exploratory work in potential new Implementing Regulations. CoA will continue this work at the spring program review meeting (April 7-10, 2016).
