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Overview | Recent Activities and Indicators | Customer Satisfaction Survey Results | Ongoing Focus | Feedback
ASHA's academic accreditation program adopted a formalized Quality Management System in 2005, with the goal of creating, implementing and maintaining an ongoing mechanism for assessment and improvement of accreditation operations and services to academic programs and the public.
Objectives of the system include:
- create constancy in improvement of services to appropriate stakeholders (e.g., academic programs, students, faculty, Council members, regulators, consumers, general public)
- identify opportunities for improvement through the use of evaluation mechanisms that seeks feedback from all stakeholders in the accreditation process
- regularly implement monitors to assure that improvements in quality of service and operations are controlled and maintained
- sustain operations such that rigor, integrity, and competitive positioning are end results for the accreditation unit of ASHA
The Accreditation Quality Management System follows the traditional DMAIC model of quality improvement:
- Define current process (e.g., Standard Operating Procedures, visioning where we want to be in future)
- Measure current process (e.g., internal and external audits, customer satisfaction surveys, performance assessments)
- Analyze current process to identify indicators for focus of improvement
- Improve current process, using results of measurements
- Control and maintain improvements
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After measuring the effectiveness of the current accreditation process (e.g., internal and external accreditation program and CAA audits in 2006, surveys of accredited programs and related stakeholders in 2007), the CAA identified several indicators for the focus of improvements.
The primary focus for the CAA in 2008 is communications with and resources for accredited programs, specifically:
- development of a comprehensive Communications Plan, after reviewing current modalities and frequency
- improving access by programs to expected review/process timelines
- providing guidance to programs as to what the CAA is seeking in order to demonstrate compliance with the standards (e.g., enhanced HELP feature and sample charts/tables, accreditation application submission webinar sessions)
Other areas of focus for improving operations of the accreditation program this year include:
- evaluation of and calibration on accreditation decision-making process (e.g., performance assessment of CAA member roles, development and use of a browser-based secure collaboration site to streamline decision-making process)
- implementation of revised candidacy application process
- evaluation of the Site Visitor program (e.g., re-training, calibration of current visitors, opportunities for performance feedback)
- documentation of accreditation procedures and orientation for new staff
- implementation of the Higher Education Data System (HES) for submission of CAA application and annual report forms
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An online survey was conducted in April 2007 to collect feedback from accredited academic program directors, faculty, CAA site visitors, and accreditation program staff. Of those surveyed, 166 individuals (51% response rate) provided input. Results indicated that 60% of respondents from academic programs are very or somewhat satisfied with the academic accreditation program offered by the CAA. Further, 55% of accredited clinical doctoral programs in audiology indicated that they were very or somewhat satisfied.
What Accredited Programs Say About the CAA
Comments from academic programs in regards to their satisfaction with the accreditation program offered by the CAA include:
"The entire process was thorough, evaluative, and allowed for us to grow through an introspective and external process of review. Our program is better because of CAA."
"The CAA accreditation process is a positive one. The accreditation standards provide a baseline for quality programming. I know that programs with accreditation have undergone a rigorous review that attests to the quality of the program."
"I can see the benefits of accreditation (e.g., the process improves the quality of academic programs)."
"Compliance with nationally established standards is extremely important."
"Accreditation enhances the status of the program within the university. The process provides a valuable means for self-study and program improvement."
Excerpts of Specific Survey Results
Specifically, 2007 survey results indicated the following:
Accreditation Materials
Overall, accreditation materials are clear/easy to understand and allow programs to present a comprehensive picture of their program. For those programs and respondents for whom these questions were applicable, 85% found the Application for (Re) Accreditation form somewhat clear or very clear, and easy to understand, while 90% felt that way about the Annual Report form.
Accessibility of Materials
Information about the CAA's accreditation process is accessible and Web site information is clear. For those programs and respondents for whom these questions were applicable, 86% found information about the (Re) Accreditation process and the Annual Report process to be accessible, while 85% found that same information on the ASHA Web site to be clear.
Accreditation Staff Members
Accredited programs find accreditation staff members to be accessible (89% agreed), timely in their responses (89% agreed), and helpful (97% agreed).
Accreditation Site Visit Process
Programs find the site visit process to be valuable, in that the majority of respondents for whom these questions were applicable found that the site visit process:
- allowed their program to demonstrate compliance with the accreditation standards (89% agreed)
- facilitated program improvement (80% agreed)
- produced a site visit report that represented the site visit and the program in a fair manner (74% agreed)
- allowed the program to provide a response to the site visit report that clarified misinformation or misinterpretations in the site visit report (89% agreed)
Value of Accreditation Process
In terms of its value to accredited programs, 84% of respondents for whom these questions were applicable found the self-assessment/self-study process to be helpful, while 85% found the site visit to be helpful, and 89% found the site visit report to be helpful.
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The number one value of the CAA accreditation program, that gives the most benefit, as identified by 64% of respondents, is the national recognition of CAA accreditation. While the CAA was pleased to see this validation from its "customers" of the value and recognition of the accreditation program, they did note several areas for ongoing focus and improvement in 2008, as part of their ongoing commitment to quality. These areas include:
- complete revision of the candidacy application and process
- easier access by programs to expected timelines and greater adherence by CAA to those published timelines
- training of new site visitors and re-training/calibration sessions for current site visitors
- more/clearer guidance to programs as to what the CAA is seeking in order to demonstrate standards compliance (as offered through CAA webinars)
- streamlining of the Application and Annual Report forms
- implementation of an online application and annual report process through the Higher Education Data System (HES), that will eliminate many of the previous problems with faculty data collection and table formatting, redundancy of information collected, and re-entering of same data from year to year (e.g., through use of pre-population)
The CAA will continue to seek programs' feedback on an ongoing basis, to ensure that the academic accreditation program offered by the CAA is of the highest quality and not only meets, but exceeds programs' needs and expectations.
Feedback may be provided to the Accreditation Office at accreditation@asha.org.
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