AACN MOVES TO ESTABLISH ALLIANCE
TO ACCREDIT
NURSING HIGHER EDUCATION
AACN Members Overwhelmingly
Endorse Action To Bring Baccalaureate and Graduate Nursing
Education "Into the New Millennium"
WASHINGTON, D.C., November 5, 1996 -- Moving
to correct nearly a decade of mounting concerns in higher
education over the proliferation and lack of uniformity
of specialized accreditation within the professions, the
American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) will
assume the leadership role in developing a new alliance
of organizations to accredit nursing higher education programs
in a more streamlined, coordinated process.
At their fall semiannual meeting October
28 in Washington, D.C., AACN members approved overwhelmingly,
by a vote of 246 to 59, a proposal for AACN to take the
lead both in creating a new alliance and in bringing other
relevant groups to the new organization. In addition, members
endorsed the proposal's call for AACN to establish a new
entity that would have the sole purpose of providing accreditation
services to baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs.
"This vote, by such a clear and sweeping
majority of consumers of accreditation services, is nothing
less than a resounding mandate to move baccalaureate and
graduate nursing education to a new level of readiness for
the next millennium," says AACN President Carole A. Anderson,
PhD, RN, FAAN.
"With this action, educators have
validated the pressing need to bring cohesion, uniformity,
and a more coordinated approach to accrediting baccalaureate
and graduate nursing programs -- an approach that is less
redundant and less burdensome for our schools -- and to
do so by putting into place common standards, common data
sets, and a common process."
Long-Standing Issues
"AACN's movement into accreditation is not a reaction to
any single development involving any of the several nursing
organizations that currently have accrediting authority,"
Dr. Anderson explains. "Rather, it is the result of years
of extensive, thoughtful study by AACN of a constellation
of accreditation issues of long standing."
Indeed, for a number of years, AACN's Board
of Directors has received concerns from nursing educators
and policymakers in higher education regarding the current
processes in place for accreditation in general, and for
nursing and other specialized accreditation in particular.
As early as 1989, the AACN Board commissioned a special
report by staff on the issues surrounding specialized accreditation,
and since that time, has continued to receive numerous requests
for further investigation of accreditation issues.
In 1992, as members of Congress gained greater
awareness of growing default rates in federal student loan
programs, lawmakers initiated efforts to determine whether,
in fact, regional accreditation processes were assuring
that higher education institutions were achieving their
missions. Since 1952, regional and specialized accreditation
has assumed a federal function as Congress accepted this
peer review process as a mechanism for assuring a general
quality for higher education in the U.S. In the process,
Congress delegated much responsibility for the oversight
of federal funding programs to the regional accrediting
bodies and to some specialized accrediting agencies.
Although the greatest default rates occurred
in for-profit, non-degree granting postsecondary schools,
Congress was unwilling to distinguish between the traditional
college and university system and private, for-profit schools,
and placed all postsecondary programs under extreme scrutiny.
Indeed, the reauthorization of the 1992 Higher Education
Act created additional new criteria to assure appropriate
federal procedures for monitoring student aid programs and
achieving appropriate outcomes, such as in graduation rates.
In response to the dynamic state of accreditation
in general, and with accreditation bodies in nursing not
only proliferating but also projected to increase, the AACN
Board of Directors in March 1995 adopted the goal to have
AACN assess the feasibility of assuming some role in the
accreditation process. This goal was part of the Association's
strategic planning initiative. Shortly afterwards, in October
1995, the Board established the AACN Task Force on Nursing
Accreditation to explore the fiscal, professional, regulatory,
and statutory aspects of specialized accreditation, and
to present a report and recommendation to the membership
on what role, if any, AACN should play in the accreditation
of baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs.
Currently, schools of nursing are reviewed
by a number of organizations, as well as by state and regional
agencies, who seek to assure that standards set by these
entities are being met. In addition to existing accreditation
programs of several nursing groups, other nursing organizations
have expressed interest in creating additional accreditation
review processes for oversight of graduate-level nursing
education, such as nurse practitioner programs.
Task Force Findings
Among the activities in its wide-ranging examination, the
AACN task force surveyed member schools, held open forums
with the membership to listen to concerns and recommendations
about the future direction of accreditation, interviewed
representatives of 25 specialized accrediting agencies,
and revisited literature on accreditation in nursing and
higher education, as well as on certification, credentialing,
and licensure.
Data collection and information gathering
revealed consistent concerns within and outside AACN regarding
accreditation activities. AACN members responding to the
survey reported an average of 3.5 instances of accreditation
or review per cycle per school, not including the school's
experience with regional accreditation. Respondents also
reported nursing accreditation costs -- arising from additional
expenditures for administrative and other support to prepare
for site visits -- ranging from $2,000 to $50,000 above
fees charged for accreditation. More than one-third of respondents
indicated their institutions were undertaking examinations
of specialized accreditation and its utility to their institutions.
Many others reported plans for such reviews in the near
future.
"The growing concerns regarding costs
of accreditation, the proliferation of specialized accrediting
bodies for nursing, the redundant and duplicative processes
associated with the various review entities, and the increasing
financial pressures in the higher education community have
created a need to form a new structure and process for nursing
education that will provide for a coordinated and streamlined
accreditation process," the task force recommended in its
report approved by the AACN Board of Directors and sent
to members in September.
The Alliance Model
Though several models were discussed and considered by the
task force, an alliance was selected as the best means to
assure representation of the various groups involved in
standard setting for baccalaureate and graduate nursing
education, including specialty practice areas and faculty
from across all program and school types. An alliance model
is also consistent with the current goals of the newly formed
Council for Higher Education Accreditation and its long-term
expectations for the reform of specialized and regional
accreditation.
"The alliance will be designed and
conducted to promote both unification and diversity among
member organizations and to minimize division and inconsistency
in the accreditation function," Dr. Anderson explains.
"AACN is the only national organization
that exclusively represents nursing programs in America's
universities and four-year colleges," Dr. Anderson notes.
"Our primary mission is to advance the quality of professional
nursing education programs at the baccalaureate and graduate-degree
levels, and it is with this objective that we will pursue
establishment of the alliance. However, there is every reason
to expect that the new alliance would seek opportunities
to consult and collaborate with associate-degree programs,
particularly because of the need to ensure that seamless
bridge programs between associate- and higher-degree nursing
education are maintained."
The new accreditation entity created by
AACN will seek recognition as an accrediting authority through
the U.S. Department of Education, whose standards require
accrediting agencies to be separate from their related organizations.
To form a new entity for accreditation, possibly a subsidiary
organization of AACN -- such as a council on accreditation
-- may be needed as the AACN voice in the alliance.
It is expected that accreditation services
through the AACN-established entity would be operational
in 1998. The AACN Board of Directors will move quickly to
appoint a steering committee, as well as task forces in
standard-setting areas, and to hire a full-time project
director/consultant to oversee and coordinate the various
start-up activities.
The American Association of Colleges
of Nursing is the national voice for university and four-year-college
education programs in nursing. Representing more than 580
member schools of nursing at public and private institutions
nationwide, AACN's educational, research, governmental advocacy,
data collection, publications, and other programs work to
establish quality standards for bachelor's- and graduate-degree
nursing education, assist deans and directors to implement
those standards, influence the nursing profession to improve
health care, and promote public support of baccalaureate
and graduate nursing education, research, and practice.
###
CONTACT: Robert Rosseter
(202) 463-6930, x231
rrosseter@aacn.nche.edu
