Accreditation

Accreditation Services

Our services are designed to produce outcomes specifically for your organization’s improvement and advancement. Our staff provides fully customizable solutions to private post-secondary schools who want guidance through the process of national accreditation, state applications, school administration and managing their business.

We work with schools who are accredited by the major national agencies and we can help you at any point in the process, according to your needs. There is no need to reinvent the wheel: We have many of the forms and/or policies needed for our sector’s schools, all of which will be available to you as an EA client.

Initial or Renewal Accreditation Applications
Staff Training – Accreditation Standards
Facilitate development of Self-Evaluation Report
Institutional Operations Compliance Audit
Site Visit Preparation to include Simulated Site Visit
Response to Site Visit Report
Annual Reports
Branch Application

Council on Occupational Education

The Council on Occupational Education accredits post-secondary occupational institutions that offer certificate, diploma, or applied associate degree programs. These institutions include public technical colleges, private career colleges (both for-profit and not-for-profit), Army, Navy, and Department of Defense institutions, and Job Corps Centers.

The Council on Occupational Education (hereinafter referred to as the Council or COE) came into existence initially in 1971 as the Commission on Occupational Education Institutions (COEI) of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), a regional accrediting association that serves institutions in an 11-state region.

Operating as a unit of SACS, COE provided accreditation services to postsecondary occupational education institutions located, with a few special exceptions, in the SACS region.

In preparation for assuming a national scope, the Council was incorporated as a non-profit education organization under laws of the State of Georgia in June 1994. At the end of June 1995, the Council became a fully operational agency when all assets (staff, physical resources, and financial resources) and the membership of COEI were transferred from SACS to the Council. The Commission composed of 19 members functions as the governing board and the decision-making body for all accreditation actions of the Council.

Throughout its history, the Council and its predecessor agency have been recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education as a reliable authority on the quality of education offered by the institutions it has accredited. Its current scope of recognition is as a national institutional accrediting agency for the accreditation of non-degree-granting and applied associate degree-granting postsecondary occupational education institutions

The Eligibility Requirements for COE

To be eligible to be considered by the Commission of Council on Occupational Education for candidate for accreditation (pre-accreditation status), an institution must:

Offer associate degree and/or non-degree postsecondary instruction in career and technical education.
Be legally authorized to operate within the jurisdiction in which it is located.
Have been in possession of current and applicable licensure/authorization for a minimum of one year.
Have been in continuous operation and providing instruction for a minimum of one year.
Demonstrate that it has the administrative and financial capacities to support the educational programs offered.
Be in compliance with all Federal requirements applicable to accreditation.
Agree to comply with all requirements of the Council.

The Accreditation Process for COE

An institute must first apply for Candidacy. That will entail the following:

Letter of intent to seek candidacy and to request application forms.

Application for candidacy.

Candidacy team visit.

Commission review of application and candidacy visit report. Approval of candidate status by Commission. If disapproved, appeal may be made to the Commission.

After acceptance as a candidate, an annual report is made each year for Commission review. This report is an updated status report with progress report on self-study. The earliest time that an institution can become accredited is six months after the date candidate status is approved. The maximum time an institution may be in candidacy is three years.

We will assist you to write an Application for Candidacy that describes the characteristics of the institution for its main campus and any branches you might have and the communities they serve in narrative fashion by addressing your institution staffing, program offerings, community information, as well as the institution’s mission, management, coursework, admissions, academic policies, and quality measures along with the plans for continued improvement and growth that it qualifies for consideration to meet the minimum criteria for acceptance as a candidate. When the institution has been accepted as a candidate for accreditation, we shall assist you in preparing of the preliminary visit

After a school has been accepted for Candidacy for Accreditation the process will usually follow these steps:

The on-site administrator or other full-time employee at the main campus must attend a Commission Self-study Workshop within 6 to 18 months prior to hosting a visiting team for initial accreditation or reaffirmation of accreditation.
A self-study should be initiated by the end of the first year as a candidate.
Within three years (not later than May of third year) after acceptance as a candidate, an institution must request and host a team visit.
Team appointed by Commission Staff.
A preliminary visit by the Visiting Team Leader is made approximately 30 days prior to team visit.
The team visit includes review of all programs and activities of the school. An oral report is made to the school at the end of the visit.
The written team report is sent to the Executive Director by the team leader within 30 days of the visit.
The Commission Executive Director sends team report to the institution.
Institution makes changes necessary to meet standards.
The chief administrative officer writes a letter requesting accreditation and submits three (3) copies of institutional response, if required, to the team report.
The Commission reviews the team report, institutional response report, self-study, and report of readers.
The Commission may defer action and request additional documentation, grant accreditation, or deny accreditation. If accreditation is granted (based on the self-study, team report, and institutional response report) the Commission will specify the number of years in the next reaffirmation cycle (two (2) to six (6) years). The year of reaffirmation may be changed for just cause.

It should also be noted that there will an Annual Review.

All candidate and accredited institutions must submit an annual report to the Commission.
Continued candidate status or accreditation is determined annually by Commission approval of annual reports.
During the year prior to the year that ends the reaffirmation period, a school must attend a self-study workshop, begin another self-study, and request another team visit.

Who is an Accreditation Consultant?