Commission on English Language Program Accreditation
News from CEA
May 2008

The Commission on English Language Program Accreditation (CEA) met April 18–20, 2008. Following are highlights of the meeting and other news from CEA.

Accreditation decisions
For initial accreditation, the Commission may grant 5-year accreditation to programs in full compliance with the CEA Standards or one-year accreditation to programs that substantially meet the standards but need to address minor standards-related deficiencies. Programs granted one-year initial accreditation are then considered for 4-year continued accreditation if the deficiencies are corrected.

For re-accreditation, the Commission may grant 10-year re-accreditation to programs that fully meet the standards or one-year re-accreditation to programs that have standards-related deficiencies that may be met in one year. Programs granted one-year re-accreditation are then considered for 9-year continued accreditation if the deficiencies are corrected.

At the April 18-20, 2008, meeting, the Commission reviewed four programs seeking re-accreditation, five that had received one-year re-accreditation, and two seeking initial accreditation. The following terms of accreditation were granted.

Granted 1-year initial accreditation
Intensive English Program, St. Michael’s College
New England School of English

Granted 1-year re-accreditation
English language Institute, University of South Florida
Intensive American Language Center, Washington State University

Granted 9-year continued accreditation
English Language Institute, University at Buffalo
English Language Institute, University of Pittsburgh
English Language Institute, Virginia Polytechnic University
English as a Second Language Institute, Western Illinois University
Intensive English Program, University of Miami

Granted 10-year re-accreditation
English Language Institute, Texas A & M
Applied English Center, University of Kansas

Growing number of applicants
CEA has now accredited 56 programs and schools. The two newly accredited sites–the New England School of English and the Intensive English Program at St. Michael’s College–are to be commended for their achievement. A total of 48 additional programs and schools are in the process of seeking accreditation. Of these, 17 are independent English language institutions, 24 are programs in colleges or universities, and 7 are international sites. Interest in CEA accreditation both in the U.S. and internationally continues to grow, showing evidence of the interest in quality assurance in English language teaching and administration throughout the world.

Standards revision
Earlier this year, the Commission proposed a revision to one of the CEA standards, Student Achievement 3. Thank you to all of those who provided input on the proposed change. Based on the public input, the revised standard was adopted by the Commission in April. The standard now reads:

Student Achievement 3: The program or institution maintains written reports of attained proficiency for each student.

The prior standard contained the statement above as well as the following sentence: These reports include a proficiency scale and written interpretation of the scale in terms of stated program or institution goals such as academic readiness or practical applications. This statement was removed as it was not obvious to sites, reviewers, or the Commission whether the proficiency scale and interpretation needed to be on the written report itself or clearly linked. The intent of this statement has been clarified and retained in the discussion of this standard in the CEA Standards for English Language Programs and Institutions, which is available on the CEA web site.

Accreditation and reviewer workshops CEA will hold an accreditation workshop and a reviewer workshop at its offices in Alexandria VA on May 30 and 31 at the end of the NAFSA conference. Another Accreditation Workshop will be offered October 24 & 25 at the CEA office. Programs or institutions interested in participating first need to submit an eligibility application. Forms are available on the CEA web site.

Accreditation panel at the NAFSA conference CEA is facilitating a panel discussion on “Accreditation, quality assurance, and international education—what does the future hold?” at the upcoming NAFSA conference. The session will be held on Friday afternoon, May 30, from 2:45 – 4:00pm. If you are at NAFSA, we hope you will attend. Presenters will discuss the effects of accreditation and quality assurance initiatives in the U.S. and abroad on international education.

Upcoming surveys from CEA For 2008, the Commission is carrying out a strategic planning process. Part of that process is to seek input from internal constituents (accredited and in-process sites and reviewers) and external constituents (primarily through AAIEP, UCIEP, and TESOL members). Please look for this survey to come to you by email within the month. We encourage you to participate in the survey in order to provide the Commission with information that will help in the development of CEA into the future.

For more information about CEA, access the web site at www.cea-accredit.org or call 703.519.2070.