The U.S. Department of Education's National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity voted unanimously to grant continued recognition to APA's Committee on Accreditation (APA-CoA) for five years. The action allows the committee to continue accrediting programs in professional psychology at the doctoral, internship and postdoctoral residency levels.
The renewal marks continued recognition since 1970 by the Department of Education that APA-CoA serves as the national accrediting body for professional psychology education and training, says Susan Zlotlow, PhD, director of APA's accreditation office.
She notes that APA-CoA accredits training programs that meet curriculum, resource, supervision and training standards, and that accreditation status enables those programs to tap federal funds--through, for example, the Graduate Psychology Education Program. Also, students enrolled in APA-CoA-accredited programs gain eligibility for psychology licensing and credentialing and can apply for the APA Minority Fellowship Program's Clinical Training Fellowship. Furthermore, accredited postdoctoral programs are eligible for federal Graduate Medical Education funds.
As of December 2004, APA-CoA had accredited 869 programs in the United States and Canada--369 doctoral programs in clinical, counseling, school and combined; 467 internships; and 33 postdoctoral programs.
APA-CoA petitioned the Department of Education's National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity in June for continued recognition. APA-CoA demonstrated through its own self-study, site visits by the Department of Education staff and its December public hearing that it met the committee's standards for recognition.
APA-CoA is also recognized through 2012 by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA), an organization of higher education officers and institutions that provides nongovernmental recognition to regional, national and programmatic accreditors.
--M. DITTMANN