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National Accrediting
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info@naacls.org |
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| Archives |
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Volume 86 - Spring/Summer 2004
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CEO's Corner
by Olive M. Kimball, PhD, EdD
NAACLS Chief Executive Officer |
This spring Congress is likely to increase the pace of its work that relates to
reauthorization of the Higher Education Act of 1965(HEA). While the NAACLS Board
of Directors elected to withdraw from recognition by the United States
Department of Education (USDE) several years ago, federal mandates have a long
history of influencing ever broader constituencies, including agencies not
recognized by USDE and higher education in general.
For that reason, we continue to work closely with the Council for Higher
Education Accreditation (CHEA), the non governmental organization that now
recognizes NAACLS as an accrediting body that meets all of the required
standards. We also work closely with the Association of Specialized and
Professional Accreditors (ASPA). These collaborative efforts help us to
understand the directions that Congress may go and, when possible, to have the
voice of NAACLS heard.
Since President Lyndon Johnson signed it into law in 1965, Congress has
reauthorized the HEA seven times. Its current authorization expires on September
30, 2004, during the 108th Congress. However current authorizations are provided
through FY2003 with an automatic one year extension for FY2004. If the new
legislation is not passed this spring, it will push the legislation over to the
new 109th Congress and after the general election in November 2004.
The HEA was originally created to strengthen educational resources of colleges
and universities and to provide financial help for college students. It provides
funding authorization for programs and activities in four categories:
- Student financial aid
- Support services to help students succeed
- Aid to strengthen institutions
- Aid to improve K-12 teacher education
The issues that have been closely tied to accreditation in the past are accountability, distance education and student learning outcomes. This time, in addition to those issues there is now much heated discussion about transfer of credits.
There is concern that the legislation may increase federal obligations on accreditors related to distance learning and student learning outcomes. That is, it might mandate separate and additional standards for the accreditation of distance education. It has been CHEA's and ASPA's positions that accrediting organizations have been effectively reviewing the quality of distance learning and have developed considerable capacity for progress in student learning outcomes. Certainly in the health fields and in NAACLS programs there is a long history of requiring the setting of measurable goals for programs and developing strategies for achieving these goals. A component likely to be required in the future, however, is a policy of publicly disclosing considerably more information about the results of program evaluations; that is, to increase the transparency of accreditation results. This is something which NAACLS will need to study carefully and to consider what additional information should be made public.
Since the early discussion of reauthorization, Congress has insisted that it would make legislative changes regarding transfer of credit. As adult earners, distance education and attendance at multiple institutions become more commonplace, issues of credit transfer policies and practices are questioned and a number of changes have been discussed and proposed. These include:
- Mandating institutional policies on transfer, with loss of student aid
eligibility for institutions that do not comply
- Charging accreditors to be a second enforcement mechanism
- Prohibiting accreditors from certain policies restricting transfer
- Adding a new and complicated institutional reporting requirement on all decisions on transfers
CHEA and ASPA have concluded that some of the transfer proposals may be based on sound principles. However they move in the direction of a radical intrusion into the academic decisions of institution and of the appropriate work of accreditors. How these and other issues will fall out is now being debated. You may wish to visit the websites noted below for additional information and updates.
American Council on Education (acenet.edu)
Association of Specialized and Professional Accreditors (aspa-usa.org)
Council for Higher Education Accreditation (chea.org)
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CEO's Corner
by Olive M. Kimball, PhD, EdD NAACLS Chief Executive Officer |
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HIPAA and the Educational Process
by Karen Madsen Myers Vice-Chair, PARC |
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President's Report
by David D. Gale, PhD President, NAACLS Board of Directors |
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Programs to be Site Visited
Spring/Summer 2004 Cycle |
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Dear Dr. NAACLS
Advice for Accredited and Approved Programs |
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Interpreting Standard 5B
by Claudia Miller, PhD MT(ASCP), CLS Chair, CLSPRC |
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Standard 6B
"...to teach effectively at the appropriate level." by Norton I. German, MD Program Medical Advisor and APRC Member |
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Computer Information Services Update
by Elizabeth Everson NAACLS Computer Information Services/Program Coordinator |
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In Memoriam
Colin R. Macpherson, MD (1924-2004) |
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The Benefit of NAACLS Workshops | |||
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Copyright © 2008 National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Sciences. All rights reserved. Comments or suggestions to the site editor. |
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