NAWTA - Accreditation Policy

I. Accreditation Committee Objectives and Responsibility:   The committee shall provide review of program applications to ensure that all standards and requirements of accreditation are met. It is NOT the responsibility of the committee to conduct the laborious application process for the applying institution. This committee will make recommendations for accreditation at the annual meeting.

II. Submission of Necessary Documentation: Each program seeking accreditation must provide the following detailed information to each member of the Accreditation Committee. Specific reference should be made to the Accreditation: Objectives, Curriculum, and Standards pages of this website.

Summary data for laboratory and lecture contact hours including a summation of total hour. Download Curriculum Summary Sheet.   Course delivery information including the verification of formal professional instruction provided by faculty in each program.   A listing of required courses that satisfy specific accreditation standards. It must be shown where each subject area is covered as part of one or more courses (complete course content summary matrix). Specific documentation is required for any substitutions in the Mechanical Skills area.   Course syllabi for ALL required courses in the program. (including Communications, Math, etc.)   A summary of your key instructor's qualifications as to both education and experience.   This may be in the form of a current resume that you may already have on file.   A listing of your current Advisory Committee members by name and their current position.  A letter of support for accreditation from the chairman of your institution's Advisory Committee.    A PowerPoint presentation of your institution, specific program, facilities, lab and field sites, etc. that would allow the committee to view your technology.   A current institutional catalog / calendar.   Curriculum changes, etc. since the last accreditation and any other information the applicant feels is important.   All first time accrediting institutions must send a representative of the program to the AGM. This person is responsible for a Power Point presentation to the membership at the AGM, and for clarification on points of issue identified by the accreditation committee.   An application fee of $25.00 (U.S. funds) MUST be sent directly to the NAWTA Treasurer. Download Invoice. Any additional materials, program brochures, etc. that you feel might provide useful information to our committee would be greatly appreciated.

The committee will NOT consider accreditation for any program which is primarily self-study or correspondence in origin.   Minimal contact of 1000 hours of professional instruction, including at least 400 hours of laboratory instruction, is required of all programs seeking accreditation. Self-instruction does NOT offset the professional instructional requirements, although some of the components of a self-study format may be included as part of the course offerings. Specific documentation must be provided to validate the formal professional instruction by faculty.

III. Accreditation Process: The committee's function is to review syllabi and catalogs to verify information provided in the program summary data furnished by the applicant. College catalogs and course syllabi alone are NOT sufficient documentation to receive consideration by the Accreditation Committee. Information contained in those documents must be carefully summarized on worksheets by the applicants. Download Worksheet.

It is highly recommended that the completed accreditation application be submitted in English.   This would allow members of the accreditation committee to concentrate on the content and quality of the application materials rather than on translation.

The materials described in the above section must be developed in triplicate by the applying institution and sent directly to EACH of the current members of the Accreditation Committee. This will insure that careful, independent reviews of all materials will be made prior to the annual meeting. An additional set of materials should also be sent to the Executive Director of NAWTA.   Please make sure that you adhere to the current deadline, which is April, 2010

IV. Membership Requirement: An institution MUST be a member of NAWTA during their accreditation period to maintain their accreditation status. If membership is not maintained, accreditation will be terminated.