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Soften your senses.

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Ways to become a better speaker, listener, and follower.

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Programmatic accreditation validates a HVACR program towards national standards.

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Learn more at escogroup.org and select accreditation.

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Howard, how are you doing today?

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I'm doing fantastic, Clifton.

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How are you doing, sir?

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I'm doing great, but I did have a few questions.

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I'm trying to better understand what programmatic accreditation is, and I thought maybe you

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could enlighten me a little bit on what that actually means.

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I'd be happy to do my best.

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Programmatic accreditation is where a program, not the institution, but an individual program

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such as HVAC, voluntarily measures itself against a group of established standards.

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And a lot of people are going to say, what does that really mean?

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And I think you're going to get a little more in-depth into that.

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Okay, so how is that different than institutional accreditation?

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Because I've heard both of them being used in the same school.

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Fantastic question.

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Institutional accreditation is doing this 20,000 foot overview of the entire institution.

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It's something that's really intended for determining eligibility for federal funds

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such as student loans, loan grants, etc.

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Because where programmatic accreditation is an in-depth look at an individual program.

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So you're in Indiana.

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You may have a community college there that may have a hundred different programs.

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Could one organization go evaluate a hundred different disciplines?

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No, I couldn't imagine that.

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Is where you're going to have separate organizations go evaluate nursing, wellness, computer science.

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Curricula basically.

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Correct.

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Okay, so what are some of the benefits of becoming an accredited program?

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There are many and I'll try and hit a few.

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If you're a prospective student looking at going to a school, how do you know if this

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program meets or exceeds national standards?

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How do you know if that's a program that will get you where you want to go?

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How do you, if you're a prospective employer, know that the school you're looking to partner

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with meets or exceeds national standards?

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That's a good program.

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Yeah.

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So accreditation is a quick way of identifying this is a school I either want to go to, hire

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from, or maybe I'm a manufacturer and it's a place I want to donate to.

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So what it says quite simply, this program has met minimal standards and it's a program

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that's going to help me achieve my goals.

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Well some of the other things, well when you're doing the self-study process, which I'm sure

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you're going to ask a little bit about, you start getting goals for self-improvement.

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It makes it easier to do self-evaluation agreements.

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Right.

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Oh, okay.

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It's easier to articulate with other schools.

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So there's a lot of benefits down to there's articulation agreements already established

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for programs that earn HVAC excellence programmatic accreditation.

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Now I've had a lot of discussion with educators from accredited programs as well as non-accredited

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programs.

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If I'm a non-accredited program looking for that accreditation process, where do I begin?

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What's the starting point?

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If everyone goes to our website, so if they go to escogroup.org, clicks on accreditation,

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there's a manual there.

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That accreditation manual has nine standards in it.

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Those standards each have sub standards.

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So for example, what I tell people is what a self-study is, what that manual is, you're

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going to do a self-evaluation, you're going to read it and ask yourself, do I need these

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things?

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Right.

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If I don't, what would I need to do to meet that standard?

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So as a great example, one of the things we try and convey is the importance of documenting

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teaching student safety.

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Once I read that, I may realize that I don't meet that.

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Right.

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What am I going to do to make changes to my program?

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Okay.

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So it's an opportunity to do a self-study, a self-reflection.

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Self-analysis, do I believe on paper that I meet these standards?

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And so if I get to that point where I feel like I do sufficiently meet these standards,

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what's the next process?

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How do we move forward?

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They're going to submit an application saying I'm interested in becoming accredited.

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They're also going to submit a video.

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That video is giving us a little overview.

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We want to see their lab.

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We want to see how equipment's hooked up.

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You think you're good, what do you look like?

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Exactly.

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I want to see a walkthrough of a lab so I can see the equipment, how it's hooked up,

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the safety features such as your eye wash station.

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We want to see your tool room, classroom, your office.

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We outlay that, but it's giving us a good overview of do you really have these elements

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in your program?

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So step one, they filled out the application.

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Step two, they submitted a video.

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If we believe that everything looks like it's there, they're going to start doing a self-study.

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That's where they're going to basically, they're going to be looking at this manual and they're

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answering what's called narratives.

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That's where you provide short answers, how you would meet each of these standards.

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And then it asks for certain exhibits.

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The exhibits are pretty self-explanatory.

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It might be asking for a copy of student records, the annual budget for the program.

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They take all of that and that is submitted to HVAC excellence.

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We have an accreditation review board.

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They're going to thoroughly assess each and every standard and see does this program appear

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on paper to meet all the standards.

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Makes sense.

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If it does, we're going to sign a two-person team who will then schedule a mutually agreeable

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time to go out and conduct an intense on-site visit, which takes one day of the program.

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Okay.

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What does that look like since we're sending two different people?

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Are we looking in two different directions within the organization?

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We are and what you really have is you have two people, two-person team, one who's been

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a school administrator, one who has been a HVACR program chair.

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The idea is to have two people who are not just knowledgeable in the standards, but they

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have the knowledge and experience to effectively evaluate each and every aspect of the program

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and give it guidance as how to become better.

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Sure.

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Experienced in the management side of a program.

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Right.

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Okay.

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Now in that process, so we're going to be meeting with officials from the schools.

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Are we going to be talking to students and instructors as well?

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Yes.

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And if you'd like, I could give you kind of an overview of what we actually do while we're

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there.

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Yeah, that'd be really good.

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So let's start with what typically scheduled that we want to arrive about 730 in the morning.

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Right.

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We're going to meet, we're going to have a morning conference.

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The idea is we want to meet with everyone we plan on meeting with that day.

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So we might be meeting with the president of the campus, some deans, student services,

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financial aid, HVAC instructors.

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The idea is to give them an overview.

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Why are we here?

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Where we're going to be at different times of the day.

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But it's also an opportunity.

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Sometimes a school administrator or someone who's there may have questions because we've

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been to so many programs.

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Right.

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What are other people doing so we can paint a picture of how to take this program to the

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next level?

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Sure.

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Absolutely.

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After that morning meeting, we're going to break up.

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We have a two-person team.

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The one who's a former school or state administrator is going to spend time visiting with the school

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administrator.

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They want to get that 20,000 foot view.

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Are there new funds coming from the state?

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Is there a major change in the town?

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What's going to potentially change that could impact the school positively, negatively,

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et cetera, in the future?

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Sure.

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They're going to go spend some time over at Student Services.

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They're going to get a good idea of the standards, student placement records.

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They're evaluating, does this program meet all the accreditation standards?

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They're spending time with financial services, trying to understand student fees, the budget.

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But what I call the real heart of the program is the person on the back end who's dealing

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with standards five through nine.

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Okay.

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What they're doing is they're going to be conducting an intense on-site review, looking

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at every piece of equipment in the program.

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How is it connected?

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The square footage that you have, do you have 120 square feet per student for safety in

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the lab?

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Sure.

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Do you have a permanently installed mechanical ventilation system?

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Do you have emergency cutoffs?

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Do you have eye wash stations?

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They're going to look at the tool room.

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They're going to be looking at the curriculum.

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The whole idea is to really validate, do you have the curriculum, the equipment, the tools,

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assessments, everything to effectively produce a high quality entry level technician?

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Then at the end of the day, those two people are going to get together and compare their

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notes.

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They're going to have an exit interview.

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They'll get back together with everyone they met that morning and they're going to present

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their findings.

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Now, while they don't determine whether the school's accredited, they're going to tell

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them right away, here's some of the compliance corrections.

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These are the things we did find.

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Right.

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So, some of them may be so simple, such as fire extinguisher hasn't been updated in over

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a year.

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Well, they could fix that the next day.

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Exactly.

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Simple items.

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Wait to get a report.

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Okay.

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All right.

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So, we're going to have a final walkthrough.

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We're going to give some recommendations while we're there.

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The day's going to wrap up.

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What proceedings are we going to have after that?

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Are there going to be further evaluations, I assume?

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What happens is all this material now goes back to the Accreditation Review Board.

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So, the Accreditation Review Board has the original self-study, has the video, has the

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team findings, and they're going to thoroughly assess each and every aspect of the program

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against the standards.

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If they meet the standards, they're going to be granted accreditation.

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There are sometimes that program may be granted accreditation subject to certain compliance

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corrections being resolved.

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So, as I mentioned, the fire extinguisher, that would be a very easy one to resolve.

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Right.

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But a final determination very often will include compliance corrections, things that

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need to be addressed.

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It may include suggestions for program improvement, which it often does.

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So, right now we'd be suggesting what needs to be done to address C02 or A2L refrigerants.

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And then it also may have commendations for exemplary things that we found in the program.

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Sure.

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So, what kind of a timeframe are we looking at for the confirmation of that accreditation

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process?

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It typically takes four to six weeks for the Accreditation Review Board to thoroughly assess

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everything and provide a final determination.

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And once it has been determined that they have acquired accreditation, what are the

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annual follow-ups?

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That's a great question.

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So, each year a school is required to fill out what's called an annual accreditation

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report.

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What it's really looking for is what are the substantive changes in your program?

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So, let's just say you were the instructor and you retired and now I'm the new instructor.

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Right.

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We're going to want to know, you've inherited, the new instructor has inherited an accredited

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program.

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Do they understand the standards, number one?

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Number two, do they meet what we call standard 9.1?

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Are they a qualified instructor?

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So, what we're looking for, are the substantive changes moving the program forward?

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Are there any new compliance corrections that may have arisen as a change in faculty?

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Yeah, absolutely.

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Okay.

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And where can somebody find out where to begin this process if they're looking to have their

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program evaluated for accreditation?

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They could visit escogroup.org and click on the accreditation link.

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They can also give us a call.

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I highly suggest that everyone call us.

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In all honesty, our goal is not to trick anyone, it's to help everyone.

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Absolutely.

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So, we have some schools that look at the process and go, I believe I could do this

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right now.

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Others say, I'm several years away.

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Regardless of where you're at, our goal is to help you become more effective and build

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your program and we're happy to talk to you.

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Awesome.

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Howard Wise, thank you so much for your time today.

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Thank you very much, Clifton.

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You have a good day.

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In the late 1990s, technology was rapidly changing and many schools and school systems

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were troubled by the possibility that their existing technology programs may not be keeping

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up with all of the advances.

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One of these systems, the Tennessee Board of Regents, the fifth largest system of higher

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education in the United States, wanted to verify they were preparing their students

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to be competitive in the workforce.

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To accomplish this, they mandated that all their technological programs acquire third

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party programmatic accreditation.

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Programmatic accreditation is the process by which an independent third party, non-governmental

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peer review of a specific program is conducted comparing its elements to industry approved

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guidelines and against set standards.

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At that time, the Tennessee Board of Regents discovered that no national accreditation

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agency had ever been established for the heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration

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industry.

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Furthermore, when contacting various industry groups, none were interested in establishing

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one.

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That is until they contacted HVAC Excellence.

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HVAC Excellence was established only a few years earlier in 1994 to improve the technical

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competency of the HVACR industry.

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HVAC Excellence began conducting programmatic accreditation in 1999, establishing the industry's

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first accrediting body.

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They're working with the Tennessee Board of Regents and the HVACR industry to establish

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a set of standards.

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The process of programmatic accreditation is to validate the established standards of

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excellence for HVACR educational programs.

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These standards are designed to ensure that our future workforce receives the quality

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of training required to provide the skills necessary for success in the HVACR industry.