Thank you for your ongoing support of the accreditation process. As part of your program's continuing accreditation you are required to submit an annual report and pay your annual maintenance fees. This annual report is a representation of what you are doing, not a determination of validity. Your annual report is to be submitted via this online form no later than March 1, 2024.
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Maintenance of Accreditation
Once a program/specialization has been accredited, maintenance of accreditation is contingent upon fulfilling the following requirements:

1. Compliance with the eligibility criteria and standards set by the Council for the duration of the seven-year period between reviews.
2. Submitting an Annual Progress Report providing statistics for the previous academic year, specifying improvements made, reporting any significant changes and reporting on status of the 1.0 series standards and standards 2.05.05, 3.06, 3.07, and the 7.0 series.  Institutions with multiple accredited programs will be required to report on the 7.0 series for each individually accredited program.  An answer of “no” to questions involving the 1.0 series, 2.05.05, 3.06, 3.07 and 7.04 standards would constitute non-compliance. For the 7.0 series, failure to report the use of three assessment measures (two of which must be direct) would constitute non-compliance.  If non-compliance is noted, Council will impose Conditions and the program will have until August 1 prior to the Council’s Fall Meeting to bring the identified standard(s) into compliance. Part of the reporting requirement is to provide the program’s graduation rate. COAPRT recognizes the definition from the National Center for Education Statistics: http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/glossary/index.asp?id=812. The expectation is that the graduation rate reported on will be at the program level; however, if the program does not have access to that information, it is recommended that they consult with the institution’s research office.  If the institution does not have a research office and still requires guidance on their graduation rate, they should contact the Council. Annual Progress Reports are required for all programs regardless of their review cycle.  a. Student Learning Outcomes (SLO) performance: The COAPRT Annual Progress Report requires programs to report SLOs from the 7.0 Series. COAPRT expects all programs to demonstrate that student learning outcomes associated with its 7.0 Series Learning Outcomes are met at a 70% level. Therefore, student achievement will be judged as appropriate when 70% or more of the students being assessed demonstrate that they have accomplished the learning outcome. b. Program Performance Outcomes (PPO) performance: COAPRT expects all programs to demonstrate that PPOs are met at a 70% level. The COAPRT Annual Progress Report requires programs to report the following PPO metrics: 1) Percentage of students who complete program after entering; 2) Graduate school acceptance rate; 3) Post-graduation employment rate. Performance Review Committee (PRC) procedure for Annual Progress Report review: i. All annual reports will be divided among Council members and to enhance consistency Council members will, over the tenure of their appointment to the Council, track the same schools. ii. The PRC will collect all performance data from the annual reports after it has been reviewed by Council members and review the data in relation to its measurement validity and the 70% criteria. iii. Council, having collected the annual reports, will send copies of annual reports to respective programs, which are required to post their respective report on their website for public access. iv. After the PRC has reviewed all annual report data it will validate that institutions have posted the data publicly. Links to individual Programs will also be updated on the COAPRT website. v. The PRC will annually report to the Council at its fall meeting the aggregate data for all schools. These data will be posted on the COAPRT website. vi. In the case of Programs that have not met COAPRT performance standards during the annual reporting process, COAPRT will send a letter to respective programs requiring that indicated standards must be addressed and met by either the submission of the re accreditation self-study or next annual report, whichever comes first. vii. In the case of Programs that have not met COAPRT performance standards for two out of three years, the PRC will initiate the process to require schools to submit a Three-Year Corrective Action Plan (CAP) designed to ensure that Programs undertake necessary changes to ensure appropriate performance. The CAP will be due prior to the full COAPRT Fall meeting where the PRC will present it and recommend approval or rejection of the adoption. If rejected the PRC will communicate to the Program the reason(s) and a member of the Council will be assigned to the school to assist it in creating an approved CAP. viii. The PRC will review the CAP in conjunction with the annual report. ix. Annual reporting processes including data requested and format for submission will be overseen by the PRC and report to the Executive Committee on-going efforts necessary for timely submission. d. Annual report and review schedule: March 1: All schools share as part of the mandatory annual report the following data: Percentage of students who complete the program after entering, graduate school acceptance rate, post-graduation employment rate. April 1: Council members individually review data from institutions as assigned. To promote consistency, Council members track the same schools over the tenure of their appointment to the Council. May 1: PRC reviews for consistency and aggregates all data and reports results to the Council. June 1: Council meets to review aggregated data, discuss PRC report, and determine appropriate action based upon PRC recommendation(s). COAPRT sends Action Letters to programs as appropriate. July 1: All aggregate data reflecting the performance of accredited programs is posted to COAPRT website.
3. Paying an annual maintenance fee, as designated by the Council. This fee is paid for the current calendar year (January 1 – December 31). No maintenance fee is assessed during the calendar year in which the Program undergoes an accreditation review hearing. Thus, during the course of a standard continuing accreditation cycle, a Program will submit annual progress reports, pay the maintenance fee six times, and pay one review fee.  a. Annual progress reports and fees are due by March 1 of each submittal year. If a program fails to submit a report and/or the fee by March 1, the Council will charge the program a late fee. The Council also will send a warning that failure to submit the delinquent report and fee, including the late fee, will lead to withdrawal of accreditation. If administrative factors beyond the control of the Program preclude timely payment, an explanation and evidence must be submitted by the deadline. b. In addition, if Requirements 1 and 2 are not met, the Program will receive a warning with a specified time limit for compliance. Failure to respond satisfactorily to the warning by the stated deadline will lead to withdrawal of accreditation. c. Failure to respond to the conditions/warnings identified by Council in a post hearing report (initial or re-accreditation) by the timeline identified by the Council will result in a late fee.
4. Being reviewed and approved by the Council on a continuing basis every seven years or as often as required by the Council.
5. A currently accredited Program may voluntarily withdraw from its accredited status by notifying the Council of its intent in writing on official letterhead. The letter must indicate that copies have been sent to the Department Chair/Head, Dean, Provost/Vice President for Academic Affairs, and the college or university’s President/Chancellor.

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