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Accreditation by the American Psychological Association

Counseling psychology training programs in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico may be accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA) and, if they are, must indicate so in their published materials. APA accreditation is a designation that publicly indicates that the accredited program, through a voluntary self-study and an external review, meets certain expected standards of quality and engages in ongoing evaluation and enhancement. The process of accreditation protects the interests of counseling psychology students and the general public through improving the quality of teaching, learning, research, and professional practice. Only graduate programs in professional psychology (counseling, clinical, or school psychology) at the doctoral level are accredited by the APA, not master's or specialist's level programs. Doctoral programs in counselor education are also not accredited by the APA; they may instead be accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP). The APA, which has given the responsibility for accreditation of professional psychology programs to its Committee on Accreditation (CoA), also accredits professional psychology internship programs and postdoctoral residencies in professional psychology. The CoA carries out accreditation responsibilities consistent with the recognition provisions of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA), which provides a list of accredited institutions and programs to the U.S. Secretary of Education, who publishes it annually.

Structure of the Accreditation Process

Committee on Accreditation

In 1991, the APA outlined the foundation of a committee that would oversee the accreditation process in the Policies for Accreditation Governance. The committee members must represent a balance among graduate educators, practicing clinicians, and well-informed community citizens. Such a balance gives the committee the ability to scrutinize concerns from each of the three populations, thus creating a comprehensive accreditation process. The policy says that the CoA must consist of no fewer then 21 committee members. Four members must be graduate educators from psychology departments, ten members represent professional schools and training programs, four members are practicing professionals, two members are from the general public, and one member is a representative of graduate students. Of the ten members from professional schools and training programs, two each must be solicited by the Council of University Directors of Clinical Psychology, Council of Counseling Psychology Training Programs, Council of Directors of School Psychology Programs, National Council of Schools of Professional Psychology, and Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers.

The purpose of the CoA is to oversee formulation and implementation of accreditation policies and procedures, render final accreditation decisions on education and training, evaluate accreditation policies and procedures, provide guidance and information regarding accreditation, establish guidelines for site visitors (see below), establish developmental and evaluative research on the accreditation process, establish task forces and review panels, and implement other responsibilities. The CoA proposes changes in policy after allowing for a period for public comment, finalizes the proposed changes, and sends them to the APA Board of Directors to adopt. A recent change was to the operating procedures of the CoA; these went into effect in 2005.

Site Visitors

Site visitors serve as representatives of the CoA in reviewing the quality and specific functions of the professional psychology program in question. They are professional clinical, counseling, and school psychologists or generalists who are psychologists in nonprofessional or nonpractice psychology disciplines. Site visitors who are professional psychologists must have earned a doctoral degree and have 5 years of experience working in a psychology field, hold an appropriate license or certification, and be active members of professional research organizations. Depending on the domain in which the professional psychologist works, he or she must also be associated with a doctoral training program, must have some association with a doctoral training program, or must be deemed to have adequate knowledge about educational, professional, and scientific issues in psychology. Site visitors who are generalists must have received a doctoral degree from a regionally accredited institution, have at least some professional experience, have some type of involvement with an institution that has an accredited training program, and be deemed to have adequate knowledge about educational, professional, and scientific issues in psychology. Site visitors must all be trained to be a site visitor or a site visit chairperson. They are evaluated postvisit by the program's training director and other site visitors. Although expenses are reimbursed by APA, neither members of the CoA nor site visitors receive any monetary compensation; they do this as an important professional service.

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