Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy
Education (ACOTE®)
Programs
(Primary Sites)
OT Doctoral
OT Masters
OTA
TOTAL
Accredited Candidate Applicant
4
144
152
300
3
3
24
30
3
6
29
38
Total
10
153
205
368
47 OT Level Programs are housed in ASAHP Member Schools
Accreditation Council for Occupational
Therapy Education (ACOTE®)
• ACOTE accreditation standards require
that a program must routinely secure and
document sufficient qualitative and
quantitative information to allow for
meaningful analysis about the extent to
which the program is meeting its stated
goals and objectives to prepare entry level
practitioners.
Accreditation Council for Occupational
Therapy Education (ACOTE®)
• At a minimum, programs must track:
– Students’ progression through the program;
– Fieldwork performance;
– Graduates’ performance on the NBCOT
certification exam;
– Graduates’ job placement; and
– Graduate performance based on employer
satisfaction.
Accreditation Council for Occupational
Therapy Education (ACOTE®)
• In addition, the standards require that the
programs demonstrate evidence that they
routinely and systematically analyze data to
determine the extent to which the program is
meeting its stated objectives and that the results
of ongoing evaluation must be appropriately
reflected in the program’s strategic plan,
curriculum, and other dimensions of the
program.
Accreditation Council for Occupational
Therapy Education (ACOTE®)
• What else is ACOTE looking at:
– How does the program measure the
expected learning outcomes of graduates
as identified in the curriculum design ?
– How does the program assess that the
students have acquired the knowledge/ skill
identified in the competency based content
standards?
Accreditation Council for Occupational
Therapy Education (ACOTE®)
• Student learning and assessment
outcomes are tracked by ACOTE through:
– Annual data reports;
– Interim reports; and
– Reports of self-study
Accreditation Council for Occupational
Therapy Education (ACOTE®)
Threshold Standard:
• The average pass rate over the 3 most
recent calendar years for graduates
attempting the national certification exam
within 12 months of graduation from the
program must be 80% or higher
(regardless of the number of attempts).
Accreditation Council for Occupational
Therapy Education (ACOTE®)
• If a program reports low outcomes on other key
measures (e.g. retention rates; FW pass rates;
employment rates)the first step is to request
“additional information”.
• If the program fails to provide evidence that they
are routinely and systematically analyzing data
and/or there is no evidence that the poor
outcomes are being addressed in the strategic
plan, curriculum revisions etc. the program is
typically cited with an area of non-compliance.
Accreditation Council for Occupational
Therapy Education (ACOTE®)
A.1.0. SPONSORSHIP AND ACCREDITATION
0
0%
A.2.0. ACADEMIC RESOURCES
8
12%
A.3.0. STUDENTS
0
0%
A.4.0. OPERATIONAL POLICIES
7
10%
38
55%
5
7%
B.1.-9 CONTENT REQUIREMENTS
1
1%
B.10
10
14%
69
100%
A.5.0. PROGRAM ASSESSMENT
A.6.0. CURRICULUM FRAMEWORK
FIELDWORK
Accreditation Council for Occupational
Therapy Education (ACOTE®)
• What is required to be published on your
web-page:
– NBCOT Pass Rate
– Graduation Rate
• There are required definitions for these
two measures.
Accreditation Council for Occupational
Therapy Education (ACOTE®)
Neil Harvison PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA –
Director of Accreditation and Academic
Affairs
nharvison@aota.org
www.acoteonline.org