NACEP accreditation

The National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships (NACEP) announced today that Central Lakes College and 21 other colleges and universities in Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, and Utah have been granted national accreditation for their concurrent enrollment programs. NACEP accreditation validates the quality of college courses offered in high schools and ensures that the course content and student expectations match the standards of the sponsoring post-secondary institution.

NACEP President Lynn Burbank remarked: “Through NACEP’s rigorous accreditation peer-review process, Central Lakes College has demonstrated that the college courses it offers in high schools are of comparable content and have equivalent expectations for student learning as courses offered on campus. We welcome College in the Schools at Central Lakes College as one of the 83 concurrent enrollment partnerships nationwide that have earned NACEP’s accreditation.”

To earn accreditation from NACEP, concurrent enrollment programs conduct a self-study, document how their programs adhere to NACEP’s 17 standards, and are evaluated by peer reviewers from NACEP-accredited programs. NACEP’s standards were developed and refined over many years, serve as a model for quality standards in 15 states, and are adaptable to a wide range of higher education institutions.

“Historically NACEP-accredited programs have led the way in fostering statewide dialogue to promote effective practice,” noted Karen Hynick, System Director for College Transitions for the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU). “NACEP’s standards provide a framework to guide institutions in implementing a quality concurrent enrollment program. In particular, the curriculum standards require faculty site visits to high schools to ensure the concurrent course is indeed the same course offered on the college campus. Faculty standards speak to the importance of ongoing, discipline-specific professional development for concurrent enrollment instructors.”

In all five states where programs were accredited in 2012, NACEP has worked for many years to improve the quality of concurrent enrollment courses offered by all higher education institutions, providing students an assurance that the courses they take are true college courses.

The full listing of 83 programs nationwide currently accredited by NACEP can be found at  http://nacep.org/docs/accreditation/NACEPAccreditedPrograms.pdf