News from CEA, October 2005

This memo highlights items from the September 9-11, 2005, meeting of the Commission on English Language Program Accreditation and other information of interest from CEA.

Accreditation Decisions

The following decisions were made. For a complete list of CEA accredited programs and schools, visit the CEA web site.

Granted 10–year accreditation, September 2005 – September 2015
Defense Language Institute English Language Center
English Language Center, University of Denver

Granted one–year re-accreditation
CELCIS, Western Michigan University
Language Center, North Harris Community College

Granted 9-year continued accreditation, September 2005–September 2014
English Language Institute, Eastern Washington University

Granted one-year initial accreditation
Converse International School of Languages, San Francisco

Decision deferred to April 2006
Florida Language Center, Ft. Lauderdale

Recognition by the U.S. Department of Education

CEA has received official notice from Margaret Spelling, the U.S. Secretary of Education, that CEA has been granted 5-year continued recognition as a nationally recognized accrediting agency for the accreditation of postsecondary, non-degree granting English language programs and institutions in the United States. Her letter acknowledged that accreditation is an element in enabling the Commission’s freestanding institutions to establish eligibility to participate in federal programs administered by the Department of Homeland Security, Bureau of Immigration and Citizenship Enforcement Certification Program.

Accreditation workshops

CEA is holding an accreditation workshop on October 15, 2005, at its offices in Alexandria VA. Workshops in 2006 will be held at TESOL in Tampa on March 18, at NAFSA in Montreal on May 27, and at the CEA offices in October. Accreditation workshops are a required element for pursuing CEA accreditation, and programs and schools intending to apply for CEA accreditation are advised to use these dates to plan their application submissions.

Standards review

As is good practice in accreditation and as required by the U.S. Department of Education, CEA has a detailed standards review process. This process helps to ensure that the standards reflect current practice and that they are clear in intent. As part of the process, CEA recently conducted an online importance and clarity study for review of the standards as a whole. The Standards Review Committee also carries out a review of the standards in the 10 standard areas over a 3-year cycle. The committee just completed its review of the Faculty standard and, at the September 2005 meeting, proposed a revision to the wording of Faculty Standard 3. The current standard reads: “IEP faculty demonstrates excellent proficiency in English. In institutions, where languages other than English are taught, Faculty demonstrates excellent proficiency in the languages they teach.” The proposed wording changes the first sentence to “Faculty who teach English demonstrate excellent proficiency in English.” This takes into account the fact that English language institutions have English programs and courses in addition to the IEP.

Review of foreign language courses in English language institutions seeking accreditation

As mentioned in the last “News from CEA,” CEA has been reconsidering its policies for the evaluation of foreign language courses offered by English language institutions seeking CEA accreditation. When CEA reviews an English language institution for accreditation, CEA must look at every program offered, including foreign language courses. A Commission task force has drafted guidelines to provide assistance to schools as they respond to relevant standards in their self-study reports and is clarifying procedures for review of such courses by CEA reviewers and the Commission.

International accreditation

CEA will conduct its first international accreditation site visit this December at the Petroleum Institute Foundations English Program in Abu Dhabi. The program is one of the first two international sites seeking accreditation by CEA. The Commission offers accreditation outside the U.S. using procedures that parallel those used for U.S. sites as much as possible, while working with the site to amend the standards as necessary to fit the cultural and institutional context of each site.

If you have questions about this email or about CEA, feel free to contact me at 703.519.2070 or by email at info@cea-accredit.org