M. LaCheeta McPherson, PhD, MT(ASCP), CLS(NCA)

A belated Happy New Year to you all. I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and are going "full steam ahead" for 2010. At least that is what is happening in the CAAHEP office and with the CAAHEP Board of Directors.

The year promises lots of challenges and work for CAAHEP. This year we begin the process of renewing our CHEA recognition. The task will involve writing a self-study and preparing for a site-visit in January 2011. The Board met in January to strategize this process.  The Board liaisons to the Committees on Accreditation will play a major role in assuring that CoA processes, procedures and policies are aligned with CAAHEP. Included in the plan will be one paper audit and one site visit audit on a program seeking accreditation for each CoA. The Board liaison will work with their CoA to select the programs. More on this topic will be coming forth in the months ahead.

The Board of Directors welcomed a new, albeit familiar board member in January. Dr. Susan Fuchs agreed to replace Dr. Sean Harbison for his term of office. Dr. Fuchs served two terms on the CAAHEP Board a few years back and has continued to serve CAAHEP as the Board Liaison for The Committee on Accreditation of Educational Programs for the Emergency Medical Services Profession since her departure from the board. Susan is a wonderful representative for The American Academy of Pediatrics, and we thank her for her service.

Each January, CAAHEP provides a leadership conference for CoA chairs. This year's conference was well received. The topics provided a fundamental foundation for the Committees on Accreditation and complimented our beginning phase of renewal of CHEA recognition. Topics included "CAAHEP Policy Interpretation," "What is a CAAR Report and Why is it Important," "Update on Generalist Site Visitor Training," "A Review of the CAAHEP Standards Template," and a demonstration of CAAHEP's Online Annual Report. Nancy Smith began a dialogue of "hot topics" that will be expanded into presentations for our July workshop for CoA Chairs. Dr. Susan Hatfield from Winona State University spoke about assessing general student learning outcomes. Her presentation clarified the difference between program and student outcomes.

Congratulations are extended to the Committee on the Accreditation of Educational Programs in Cardiovascular Technology. Their proposed standards changes were approved by the CAAHEP Board at the January meeting. The minor standards changes clarified the areas for adult echocardiography technology and pediatric echocardiography technology within their profession.

Lastly, CAAHEP is working diligently in preparing Webinars on topics timely for both CoA's and Program Directors. A series of four will debut throughout February and early March. If you have ideas for topics and speakers, please contact the CAAHEP office.

I hope to see many of you in April at our annual meeting. This year the meeting is in Louisville. The agenda and registration information was sent in early February. For additional details on the annual meeting, refer to the CAAHEP website.

At the 2010 CAAHEP Annual Meeting, the Commission will review and contemplate a change to the CAAHEP Bylaws. At its January 2010 meeting, the Board of Directors recommended the following change noted in italics and removed wording in brackets:

Article VI - COMMISSION: Section 11. Quorum. A majority of Commissioners registered at a meeting - including at least one Commissioner [from each] representing an  Educational Institution Member group, one Commissioner representing a Sponsoring Organization, and one Commissioner representing a Committee on Accreditation - shall constitute a quorum.

The rationale for this change is that it has become increasingly difficult to meet the current quorum requirement at Annual Meetings. A survey of Commissioners who were unable to attend last year's annual meeting was conducted to find out why they were not in attendance. The overwhelming reason was not due to the content or interest in the program, but conflicts with other meetings. The Board has recommended this Bylaws change so that work of the Commission can continue.

If you have questions or comments on this Bylaws amendment, please contact Kathleen Megivern.

April 18-19, 2010; Louisville, Kentucky

• Two sessions with Mark Taylor, MSW, EdD:
• GenerationNeXt Comes to Work 
• Teaching for Lasting Change: A Pedagogy of Formation for the Health Professions
• Health Care Reform, with Dr. Robert Brooks, Associate VP for Health Care Leadership, University of South Florida (former Secretary, Florida Dept of Health)
• A Washington Update, with Doug Lederman, Editor, Inside Higher Education
• The popular Spotlight on Professions, highlighting professions within CAAHEP
• And, an Exciting Possibilities through Simulation, with Bruce Searles, CCP, Associate Professor and Chair of CVP and Edward Darling,CCP, Associate Professor from SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse

There will also be a town hall meeting and, of course, the annual awards lunch.

Please visit the CAAHEP website for full details and registration information. Registrations must be submitted by April 9, 2010, in order to receive the "early bird" registration rate.  Should you have any questions, please contact the CAAHEP office.

Kathleen Megivern, JD, CAE, CAAHEP Executive Director
 
At the recent Annual Conference of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) in Washington, comments criticizing accreditation made from two of the program's speakers left quite an impression on attendees. 
 
First, Martha Kanter, who serves as the Under Secretary of Education (the No. 2 official in the U.S. Education Department), asked if accreditors are asking the right questions, questioning if the accreditation process is helping institutions improve and suggesting that not enough emphasis is being placed on student learning. In her comments, she wondered aloud whether accreditation standards and processes are out-of-date, and not designed for the 21st century global society. Her presentation was quoted in the Chronicle of Higher Education as saying, "accreditation isn't transparent enough and it takes too long." While she did not elaborate on what she meant by "too long" in the article, she was clear that she believes accreditors and institutions should be willing to open the accreditation process to interested parties. 
 
A second speaker at the meeting, Kevin Carey, from Education Sector, also addressed the transparency issue - or lack thereof. He said "transparency is more than just making information available." He pointed out that accreditation uses jargon and technical language that the public cannot understand, and said that information that US News and World Reports publishes is more pertinent for students and the public than anything that accreditors publish. Mr. Carey took on several other issues in his presentation and ended with a suggestion that the Federal Government take over institutional regulation and let accreditors go back to a focus on quality - high standards rather than minimum standards.
 
These presentations left attendees with plenty to discuss for the remainder of the conference. CHEA President, Judith Eaton, summed it up when she reported that a first-time attendee asked her, 'Are CHEA meetings always this edgy?'