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Programmatic accreditation validates a HVACR program towards national standards.
Learn more at escogroup.org and select accreditation.
Howard, how are you doing today?
I'm doing fantastic, Clifton.
How are you doing, sir?
I'm doing great, but I did have a few questions.
I'm trying to better understand what programmatic accreditation is, and I thought maybe you
could enlighten me a little bit on what that actually means.
I'd be happy to do my best.
Programmatic accreditation is where a program, not the institution, but an individual program
such as HVAC, voluntarily measures itself against a group of established standards.
And a lot of people are going to say, what does that really mean?
And I think you're going to get a little more in-depth into that.
Okay, so how is that different than institutional accreditation?
Because I've heard both of them being used in the same school.
Fantastic question.
Institutional accreditation is doing this 20,000 foot overview of the entire institution.
It's something that's really intended for determining eligibility for federal funds
such as student loans, loan grants, etc.
Because where programmatic accreditation is an in-depth look at an individual program.
So you're in Indiana.
You may have a community college there that may have a hundred different programs.
Could one organization go evaluate a hundred different disciplines?
No, I couldn't imagine that.
Is where you're going to have separate organizations go evaluate nursing, wellness, computer science.
Curricula basically.
Correct.
Okay, so what are some of the benefits of becoming an accredited program?
There are many and I'll try and hit a few.
If you're a prospective student looking at going to a school, how do you know if this
program meets or exceeds national standards?
How do you know if that's a program that will get you where you want to go?
How do you, if you're a prospective employer, know that the school you're looking to partner
with meets or exceeds national standards?
That's a good program.
Yeah.
So accreditation is a quick way of identifying this is a school I either want to go to, hire
from, or maybe I'm a manufacturer and it's a place I want to donate to.
So what it says quite simply, this program has met minimal standards and it's a program
that's going to help me achieve my goals.
Well some of the other things, well when you're doing the self-study process, which I'm sure
you're going to ask a little bit about, you start getting goals for self-improvement.
It makes it easier to do self-evaluation agreements.
Right.
Oh, okay.
It's easier to articulate with other schools.
So there's a lot of benefits down to there's articulation agreements already established
for programs that earn HVAC excellence programmatic accreditation.
Now I've had a lot of discussion with educators from accredited programs as well as non-accredited
programs.
If I'm a non-accredited program looking for that accreditation process, where do I begin?
What's the starting point?
If everyone goes to our website, so if they go to escogroup.org, clicks on accreditation,
there's a manual there.
That accreditation manual has nine standards in it.
Those standards each have sub standards.
So for example, what I tell people is what a self-study is, what that manual is, you're
going to do a self-evaluation, you're going to read it and ask yourself, do I need these
things?
Right.
If I don't, what would I need to do to meet that standard?
So as a great example, one of the things we try and convey is the importance of documenting
teaching student safety.
Once I read that, I may realize that I don't meet that.
Right.
What am I going to do to make changes to my program?
Okay.
So it's an opportunity to do a self-study, a self-reflection.
Self-analysis, do I believe on paper that I meet these standards?
And so if I get to that point where I feel like I do sufficiently meet these standards,
what's the next process?
How do we move forward?
They're going to submit an application saying I'm interested in becoming accredited.
They're also going to submit a video.
That video is giving us a little overview.
We want to see their lab.
We want to see how equipment's hooked up.
You think you're good, what do you look like?
Exactly.
I want to see a walkthrough of a lab so I can see the equipment, how it's hooked up,
the safety features such as your eye wash station.
We want to see your tool room, classroom, your office.
We outlay that, but it's giving us a good overview of do you really have these elements
in your program?
So step one, they filled out the application.
Step two, they submitted a video.
If we believe that everything looks like it's there, they're going to start doing a self-study.
That's where they're going to basically, they're going to be looking at this manual and they're
answering what's called narratives.
That's where you provide short answers, how you would meet each of these standards.
And then it asks for certain exhibits.
The exhibits are pretty self-explanatory.
It might be asking for a copy of student records, the annual budget for the program.
They take all of that and that is submitted to HVAC excellence.
We have an accreditation review board.
They're going to thoroughly assess each and every standard and see does this program appear
on paper to meet all the standards.
Makes sense.
If it does, we're going to sign a two-person team who will then schedule a mutually agreeable
time to go out and conduct an intense on-site visit, which takes one day of the program.
Okay.
What does that look like since we're sending two different people?
Are we looking in two different directions within the organization?
We are and what you really have is you have two people, two-person team, one who's been
a school administrator, one who has been a HVACR program chair.
The idea is to have two people who are not just knowledgeable in the standards, but they
have the knowledge and experience to effectively evaluate each and every aspect of the program
and give it guidance as how to become better.
Sure.
Experienced in the management side of a program.
Right.
Okay.
Now in that process, so we're going to be meeting with officials from the schools.
Are we going to be talking to students and instructors as well?
Yes.
And if you'd like, I could give you kind of an overview of what we actually do while we're
there.
Yeah, that'd be really good.
So let's start with what typically scheduled that we want to arrive about 730 in the morning.
Right.
We're going to meet, we're going to have a morning conference.
The idea is we want to meet with everyone we plan on meeting with that day.
So we might be meeting with the president of the campus, some deans, student services,
financial aid, HVAC instructors.
The idea is to give them an overview.
Why are we here?
Where we're going to be at different times of the day.
But it's also an opportunity.
Sometimes a school administrator or someone who's there may have questions because we've
been to so many programs.
Right.
What are other people doing so we can paint a picture of how to take this program to the
next level?
Sure.
Absolutely.
After that morning meeting, we're going to break up.
We have a two-person team.
The one who's a former school or state administrator is going to spend time visiting with the school
administrator.
They want to get that 20,000 foot view.
Are there new funds coming from the state?
Is there a major change in the town?
What's going to potentially change that could impact the school positively, negatively,
et cetera, in the future?
Sure.
They're going to go spend some time over at Student Services.
They're going to get a good idea of the standards, student placement records.
They're evaluating, does this program meet all the accreditation standards?
They're spending time with financial services, trying to understand student fees, the budget.
But what I call the real heart of the program is the person on the back end who's dealing
with standards five through nine.
Okay.
What they're doing is they're going to be conducting an intense on-site review, looking
at every piece of equipment in the program.
How is it connected?
The square footage that you have, do you have 120 square feet per student for safety in
the lab?
Sure.
Do you have a permanently installed mechanical ventilation system?
Do you have emergency cutoffs?
Do you have eye wash stations?
They're going to look at the tool room.
They're going to be looking at the curriculum.
The whole idea is to really validate, do you have the curriculum, the equipment, the tools,
assessments, everything to effectively produce a high quality entry level technician?
Then at the end of the day, those two people are going to get together and compare their
notes.
They're going to have an exit interview.
They'll get back together with everyone they met that morning and they're going to present
their findings.
Now, while they don't determine whether the school's accredited, they're going to tell
them right away, here's some of the compliance corrections.
These are the things we did find.
Right.
So, some of them may be so simple, such as fire extinguisher hasn't been updated in over
a year.
Well, they could fix that the next day.
Exactly.
Simple items.
Wait to get a report.
Okay.
All right.
So, we're going to have a final walkthrough.
We're going to give some recommendations while we're there.
The day's going to wrap up.
What proceedings are we going to have after that?
Are there going to be further evaluations, I assume?
What happens is all this material now goes back to the Accreditation Review Board.
So, the Accreditation Review Board has the original self-study, has the video, has the
team findings, and they're going to thoroughly assess each and every aspect of the program
against the standards.
If they meet the standards, they're going to be granted accreditation.
There are sometimes that program may be granted accreditation subject to certain compliance
corrections being resolved.
So, as I mentioned, the fire extinguisher, that would be a very easy one to resolve.
Right.
But a final determination very often will include compliance corrections, things that
need to be addressed.
It may include suggestions for program improvement, which it often does.
So, right now we'd be suggesting what needs to be done to address C02 or A2L refrigerants.
And then it also may have commendations for exemplary things that we found in the program.
Sure.
So, what kind of a timeframe are we looking at for the confirmation of that accreditation
process?
It typically takes four to six weeks for the Accreditation Review Board to thoroughly assess
everything and provide a final determination.
And once it has been determined that they have acquired accreditation, what are the
annual follow-ups?
That's a great question.
So, each year a school is required to fill out what's called an annual accreditation
report.
What it's really looking for is what are the substantive changes in your program?
So, let's just say you were the instructor and you retired and now I'm the new instructor.
Right.
We're going to want to know, you've inherited, the new instructor has inherited an accredited
program.
Do they understand the standards, number one?
Number two, do they meet what we call standard 9.1?
Are they a qualified instructor?
So, what we're looking for, are the substantive changes moving the program forward?
Are there any new compliance corrections that may have arisen as a change in faculty?
Yeah, absolutely.
Okay.
And where can somebody find out where to begin this process if they're looking to have their
program evaluated for accreditation?
They could visit escogroup.org and click on the accreditation link.
They can also give us a call.
I highly suggest that everyone call us.
In all honesty, our goal is not to trick anyone, it's to help everyone.
Absolutely.
So, we have some schools that look at the process and go, I believe I could do this
right now.
Others say, I'm several years away.
Regardless of where you're at, our goal is to help you become more effective and build
your program and we're happy to talk to you.
Awesome.
Howard Wise, thank you so much for your time today.
Thank you very much, Clifton.
You have a good day.
In the late 1990s, technology was rapidly changing and many schools and school systems
were troubled by the possibility that their existing technology programs may not be keeping
up with all of the advances.
One of these systems, the Tennessee Board of Regents, the fifth largest system of higher
education in the United States, wanted to verify they were preparing their students
to be competitive in the workforce.
To accomplish this, they mandated that all their technological programs acquire third
party programmatic accreditation.
Programmatic accreditation is the process by which an independent third party, non-governmental
peer review of a specific program is conducted comparing its elements to industry approved
guidelines and against set standards.
At that time, the Tennessee Board of Regents discovered that no national accreditation
agency had ever been established for the heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration
industry.
Furthermore, when contacting various industry groups, none were interested in establishing
one.
That is until they contacted HVAC Excellence.
HVAC Excellence was established only a few years earlier in 1994 to improve the technical
competency of the HVACR industry.
HVAC Excellence began conducting programmatic accreditation in 1999, establishing the industry's
first accrediting body.
They're working with the Tennessee Board of Regents and the HVACR industry to establish
a set of standards.
The process of programmatic accreditation is to validate the established standards of
excellence for HVACR educational programs.
These standards are designed to ensure that our future workforce receives the quality
of training required to provide the skills necessary for success in the HVACR industry.