News from CEA, December 2004

This memo highlights items from the December 2-5, 2004, meeting of the Commission on English Language Program Accreditation and other information of interest.

Accreditation Decisions

The Commission made the following accreditation decisions:

Granted accreditation December 2003 – 2008
inlingua® Language Center, Arlington VA

Granted one-year accreditation December 2004 – 2005
Showa Boston Institute

Granted continued accreditation December 2004 – 2014
CLED Intensive English Program, Georgetown University
English Programs for Internationals, University of South Carolina

Denied accreditation
English Language Program, St. Michael's College

Revision to standards and standards materials

Student Achievement 2
Student Achievement Standard 2 has been approved for revision by the Commission to bring it more fully in line with the changes to the Student Achievement Context and Discussion sections of the CEA Standards, which were previously revised to bring the CEA standards in line with the USDE focus on student outcomes. The Commission will follow its procedures for standards revision to allow input from the field on the revised wording. You can expect to get a copy early in 2005 with a request for your feedback. The Commission will then consider feedback and publish the standard once it is finally approved.

Faculty Standard 1 Discussion
As part of its required reporting to the U.S. Secretary of Education, CEA was required to more clearly define its qualifications for faculty teaching in English language programs and institutions. A task force provided input to the Commission, and revised wording for the Discussion to the standard was approved by the Commission in September. Following further feedback from the USDE, the wording has been further refined and also now includes baseline qualifications for faculty teaching in teacher–training certificate programs.

Four "planning" standards
The Standards Review Committee revised the discussion sections for Curriculum 4, Student Services 9, Student Achievement 5, and Administrative and Fiscal 9. These standards require that programs and institutions have "plans, in writing" for review and revisions, implementation, and evaluation, and are the standards most often unmet. It is hoped that the revised Discussions, along with a new materials in the Accreditation Handbook will make the intent of these standards clearer.

The CEA Standards for English Language Programs and Institutions reflect these changes. The updated version will be on the CEA web site in early January.

Standards review project

As required by the USDE, CEA must periodically review the standards as a whole to ensure that the standards stay current with the field. A project, the "Importance and Clarity Study," was last undertaken in 2001 when CEA was still a new agency. The paper survey sought input from all CEA in-process sites on each of the 52 standards. The study will be repeated in early 2005, but two changes will occur. The survey will be conducted on-line, and the range in participants will be greatly expanded to include other entities such as AAIEP and UCIEP members. We hope that you will participate when you receive notice.

International initiatives

The Ad Hoc International Initiatives Committee shepherded CEA through its first year with pilot studies outside the U.S. Based on its experience to date, and with input from the Constituent Council, the committee made several proposals that were approved by the Commission. CEA will now formally extend and promote its accrediting activities outside the U.S. Programs that become "accredited" will become full members of the Constituent Council and have the same rights and responsibilities that U.S. accredited sites have.

New commissioners

Four commissioners will end their 3-years of service on the Commission as of December 31: Joe Davidson, University of Houston; Alexandra Rowe, University of South Carolina; and Norma King, University of Denver. Mary Reeves, 2004 Chair, ends 4 years of service. However, they all remain as the 2005 Nominating Committee. While it is always sad to say goodbye to such dedicated commissioners, CEA welcomes four new commissioners, elected by the Constituent Council to serve from January 2005 through December 2007: Frank Bacheller, Utah State University; Deanna Hochstein, University of Oregon; Jane Hughey, Texas A & Am University; and Joy Tesh, University of Houston (retired).