(EMAILWIRE.COM, March 05, 2010 ) Fort Lauderdale, FL - A lot of emphasis is being placed on student learning outcomes and this is a fact that accreditors are not oblivious to. The general public, students, and the government alike demand evidence of student learning outcomes in quality analysis and reviews of the various institutions. With such pressure, accreditors apply stringent measures stipulated in their ‘lexicons’ which match student learning outcomes among other factors to rate institutions.

Accreditation refers to an on-going process by which universities, colleges and education programs are scrutinized by external ‘auditors’ for the purpose of quality assurance and if deemed necessary, quality improvement. Auditors in this scenario refer to private, non-profit organizations established for that sole purpose (accreditation).

There are three different types of accrediting organizations in the US and they include: regional, national and specialized accrediting organizations. The regional accrediting organizations have operation bases in 6 regions of the country and are responsible for reviewing approximately 98% of degree-awarding and non-profit institutions – both for traditional and online colleges & universities. In some rare cases have the regional organizations accredited for profit and non-degree institutions.

The national accrediting organizations are also well distributed across the country enabling degree-granting institutions to boast of 34.8% shares of the total national accreditations.

Sheila Danzig, the founder of Degree.com, http://www.degree.com, the premier internet portal for online study, when asked to comment about accreditation, pointed out that it was a series of interleaved on-going processes. She identified five major steps or features of accreditation, the first one being self-study. Based on predefined standards set by accrediting organizations, institutions and programs seeking accreditation write a summary of recent performance. The second step involves peer review which is performed by select members of the public, administrators and faculty. Site visit follows suit. The visit is primarily performed by a trained team of volunteers affiliated to the accrediting organization that perform inspections on the institution seeking accreditation. Judgment (also known as action) regarding approval or rejection of accreditation status is then passed regarding the institution and the programs it offers.

“It is only after the institution becomes accredited that the fifth feature (step) of accreditation takes place – monitoring and oversight. This is vital and essentially gives the accreditation process continuity since it involves reviewing of an institution and its programs after pre-defined regular intervals, usually 5 to 10 years,” Danzig concluded.

The United States Department of Education (USDE), which is governed by federal law, paired with the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA), a private organization, accredit the accrediting organizations. This means that the accrediting organizations also undergo policy and practice reviews to ascertain their standards are at per before receiving recognition.

Accreditation remains highly sought after by many institutions and as evident as it is, is no mean feat. Since distance learning programs have been on the increase, prospective students should consider only accredited distance learning programs to avoid risking hard earned money on degree mills and other phony online institutions.


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