The Accreditation Operating Procedures (AOP) outline training requirements for programs at the doctoral, doctoral internship, and postdoctoral levels. Correspondent to the AOP are a set of Implementing Regulations (IRs), which are official policy documents that “elucidate, interpret and operationally define” the Commission on Accreditation’s (CoA) policies and procedures. IRs are divided into several different sections (A through E), which are subject to regular review and revision by the CoA. Through this iterative process, opportunities for clarification have arisen regarding an IR in Section D, which relate specifically to the AOP. Per the AOP (§1.3), an accredited program may request to voluntarily withdraw from accredited status at any time by advising the CoA in writing in advance of the requested withdrawal date. IR D.4-11 has been created to provide APA-accredited programs with clarification regarding AOP-compliant withdrawal procedures for programs who wish to withdraw from accreditation and continue to operate.
The CoA has elected to change the date when accreditation decisions are awarded. Once finalized, the award of accreditation will be effective on the final day of the site visit preceding the CoA decision for programs. This change impacts all levels of education and training that are currently part of the CoA scope (i.e., doctoral, internship, and postdoctoral residency). AOP Sections 8.6 D, 8.6 I, and 8.6 P have been revised accordingly.
Following the creation and approval of the Standards of Accreditation for Health Service Psychology: Master’s Programs (SoA-M), the CoA has developed operating procedures for the accreditation of eligible master’s degree programs in health service psychology
(HSP).
In addition to IR D.4-11, sections of the AOP document are being presented that have been modified due to the decision to change the initial date of accreditation and those which have been created for accreditation of master’s degree programs in HSP.
In accordance with the APA “Policies for Accreditation Governance” and US Department of Education regulations for notice and comment, the CoA will make the proposed revisions available for a sixty (60) day period of public review and comment. The comment period is scheduled to begin at 5:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time on December 6, 2021 and will continue through 5:00pm Eastern Daylight Time on February 3, 2022. Information about the proposed standards and public comment will be available at http://apps.apa.org/
To promote thoughtful discussion, the CoA is providing an electronic-based form for public comment submission. Comments and other information including users’ identities will be public, while email addresses used in the registration process will be kept confidential. The CoA will consider all comments received and make appropriate revisions should they be deemed necessary prior to approval of the final versions of the IRs.
Please contact the office with questions at APAaccred@apa.org or by calling (202) 336-5979.