The Accreditation Workgroup (AWG) is completing its charge and preparing the mandated Report to Congress, as required by the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008, including its lessons learned and recommendations. We would like to take a moment to express our sincere gratitude to the members of the 2020–2025 National Coordinating Center (NCC) Accreditation Workgroup for their five years of successful and productive service. Much has been accomplished in the five years, including the five programs that participated in the pilot site process with the NCC Accreditation Workgroup from 2020-2025:
- UP Program at Western Carolina University
- OIS at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs
- ACE-IT in College at Virginia Commonwealth University
- Crossing Points Tier 3 at the University of Alabama
- Eileen Hoffman Hafer UMatter Program at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg
Another heartfelt thank you to all the program directors, program staff, students, alumni, parents, faculty, and university leaders who participated in the accreditation activities on each campus. The time commitment, collaboration, dedication, and expertise of each program and peer reviewer set the foundation for a quality accreditation process in our field. To learn more about accreditation, view the current Guide to Accreditation and participate in the free Becoming Accreditation Ready course from the NCC.
So, what’s happening now?
The NCC Accreditation Workgroup, 2025-2030, chaired by Mary Judge Diegert, is being assembled and will advise the NCC on program accreditation activities over the next five years.
The Inclusive Higher Education Accreditation Council continues to partner with the NCC and the NCC Accreditation Workgroup in the development of accreditation materials. The next few months will be a ‘quiet phase’ of program accreditation development as we process the information gathered from the five pilot sites.
As we look ahead to 2026, several resources will be launched or relaunched. Be on the lookout for:
- Release of the NCC AWG 2020-2025 Report to Congress
- Publication of A Peer Reviewer Handbook
- Release of the 2026 Guide to Accreditation
- Call for the recruitment of peer reviewers
- Launch of the IHEAC application for accreditation