A formal process by which college programs for students with ID can become accredited is currently being piloted, and the first university program has been accredited. While that process continues to be piloted, we offer college programs for students with intellectual disability some tools that they can use to become familiar with Program Accreditation Standards and begin to explore the evidence collection process that is likely to be required as part of any formal accreditation process.
1. Introducing the Program Accreditation Standards
The introduction document bellow is a great place to START to familiarize yourself with the Standards - they are distilled down to their "essence", which makes them easier to grasp as an initial review. However, they do NOT share the important nuance and detail that you need to fully understand each standard. Fort the full version of all 38 standards, download the full version.
Download Introducing the Program Accreditation Standards
Download the full version of the Program Accreditation Standards
2. Pre-Accreditation Self Assessment
This document lists all 10 Standard Areas and the associated standards - there are total of 38 standards across the 10 areas. It can be used as a basis of discussion to begin to consider where your program is relative to meeting each standard. It is meant to be a surface level review to familiarize yourself with the standards and learn what the expectations of a formal accreditation process will be. The Self-Assessment is formatted as a Word form, where you can see the standards, and add what you think your current status is related to each standard, and make notes related to that standard.
3. Evidence Checklist
This spreadsheet has a tab for each Standard area that lists evidence required to show that the standard is being met. The Google doc version includes a way to check off evidence as you collect it.
Google Sheet version of the Evidence Checklist -- click File>Make a copy and save to your own Google drive
4. A system for organizing your evidence collection
We have created an organizing structure that you can use to collect evidence. It includes a folder for each standard area, with subfolders for every standard in that area. along with a document with the Standard, guidance and required for review.
Download the folder structure to your computer. Upload to your location of choice, e.g. OneDrive, Google Drive, DropBox or work with it on your own computer.