Accreditation Process and Overview of Accreditation Process in Nursing Education
Accreditation Process and Overview of Accreditation Process in Nursing Education
Accreditation Process in Nursing Education
Accreditation Process In Nursing Education Betty J. Horton, PhD, CRNA, FAAN Accreditation is an ongoing, voluntary process that has existed in the United States for more than 100 years and is pursued by nursing programs to ensure the quality of those programs. Through the accreditation process, nursing programs are held accountable for establishing appropriate program outcome measures and designing effective evaluation systems for measuring program outcomes.
This process promotes continuous quality improvement as nursing programs strive to meet their educational goals. The Accreditation Commission for Education on Nursing (ACEN) and the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) are two accreditation agencies for nursing education programs.
Each agency has been recognized by the US Department of Education (USDE) and is dedicated to maintaining quality nursing programs. At this writing, the National League for Nursing (NLN) is developing another nursing education program accreditation agency, the NLN Commission for Nursing Education Accreditation (NLN CNEA), which is in the process of seeking USDE recognition.
Accreditation and regulation are two distinct, independent entities. State boards of nursing regulate nursing education and practice. The state boards of nursing develop rules and regulations designed to protect the health, safety and welfare of the public. Consistent with this mission, nursing programs must comply with the administrative codes of state boards of nursing and submit annual reports addressing compliance with state regulatory standards.
A nursing program may lose its accreditation status and remain operational, because accreditation agencies lack the authority to close a program. However, state boards of nursing have the statutory authority to close nursing programs under their jurisdiction that do not comply with the criteria as stated in the administrative code.
Overview of the Accreditation Process in Nursing Education
Accreditation is “a process of external quality review created and used by higher education to scrutinize colleges, universities and programs for quality assurance and quality improvement” (Eaton, 2012, p. 1). Accreditation provides evidence of quality education to stakeholders including students, families, and the public.
The linkage of quality and accreditation enhances funding opportunities in the public and private sectors and enhances employment opportunities for graduates of accredited programs. Accreditation facilitates the transfer of academic credits between institutions. Graduation from an accredited nursing program is an admissions requirement for many graduate programs.
External review of accreditation agencies is provided through USDE recognition as well as through the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). The US Secretary of Education is required by law to publish a list of recognized accrediting agencies that are considered to be reliable authorities as to the quality of postsecondary education provided by the institutions and programs they accredit.
In addition to meeting quality criteria, agencies that successfully complete the application process must meet criteria unrelated to quality, such as demonstrating a link to funding programs administered by the USDE or other federal agencies. CHEA is a nongovernmental association that includes thousands of degrees granting colleges and universities.
CHEA provides recognition for institutional and programmatic accrediting agencies. CHEA’s recognition process focuses on the quality of regional accreditors that accredit 2- and 4-year public and private colleges and universities; national faith related accreditation agencies, which accredit nonprofit, degree granting, religious or doctrine-based institutions; national career related accreditors, which review single-purpose, for profit, career based institutions, and programmatic accreditors for specific programs and professions (Eaton, 2012; USDE, nd)
Categories of Accrediting Agencies in Nursing Education
There are different categories of accrediting agencies, including institutional and programmatic. Institutions that house nursing programs may also possess regional institutional accreditation. Regional accreditors accredit institutions and are responsible for setting standards and monitoring compliance with those standards by the college or university as a whole.
Regional accrediting organizations recognized by CHEA have standards and processes that “are consistent with the academic quality, improvement and accountability expectations that CHEA has established” (Council for Higher Education Accreditation [CHEA], 2010).
CHEA-recognized
regional accreditation organizations include the Higher Learning Commission, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, the New England Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Institutions of Higher Education, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Senior College and University Commission.
Programmatic accreditation agencies are discipline-specific and accreditation programs and professional schools such as nursing, law, and engineering. The programmatic accreditation agencies for nursing programs are ACEN and CCNE plus the emerging NLN CNEA.
In addition to these entities, there are advanced practice nursing accrediting agencies including the Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs (COA) and the Accreditation Commission for Midwifery Education (ACME).
Some accreditation agencies serve as a “gate-keeper” for federal funds awarded to institutions and programs in the form of student aid. Grants and loans authorized under Title IV of the Higher Education Act are the major source of federal student aid. Students who want federal (and sometimes state) grants and loans need to attend a college, university, or program that is accredited and recognized by the USDE for this purpose.
In this regard, a USDE-recognized accreditation agency is considered a “gatekeeper” for federal funds. Most nursing students access federal funds through regionally accredited universities that conduct nursing programs.
Other students who attend hospital-based or freestanding institutions, not associated with regionally accredited universities, rely on approved USDE category 3 programmatic accrediting agencies to obtain Title IV funds (United States Department of Education, USDE, 2014).
Category 3 accrediting agencies must meet specific regulations, including provisions to be separate and independent from parent professional organizations. ACEN, COA, and ACME are recognized by USDE as Category 3 agencies, which allow the qualified programs accredited by these agencies to participate in Title IV programs.
The nursing program accreditors CCNE and NLN CNEA are considered to be Category 2 accrediting agencies, and as such, do not serve as Title IV gate keepers for federal student aid, instead relying upon the institution’s accreditation by a USDE recognized institutional accrediting Title IV gate keeper to serve that purpose.