Accreditation Schedule and Activities

Important - Data Submission: All institutions and the credential programs offered at the institution are expected to collect data annually, analyze the data and submit the required data to the Commission. Data is submitted through the Accreditation Data System. The system opens for the entry of data in the ADS on March 31.  No reports should be submitted prior to the end of June 2020 to allow for collection of the data related to program completers. All reports must be submitted by August 15, 2020. Please continue to check this page as well as review Program Sponsor Alertsand the PSD E-News. By March 31, 2020 each institution needs to create the reports for each of the pathways through which your Commission-approved programs are offered and enter the program’s contextual information.  

The Accreditation Cycle

The accreditation process is a seven-year cycle of activities. The figure below, illustrates the accreditation cycle of activities. These activities include annual data analysis, preconditions review, Common Standards review, program review, the site visit, and seventh-year follow up. A list of Cohort assignments as well as summaries of accreditation activities (cohort maps) for each cohort can be found in the table below. Institutions are, therefore, at different points in the accreditation cycle, depending on their assigned cohort. The cohort model distributes the workload of the Commission, its staff, and the Board of Institutional Review (BIR) members, which is composed of trained education professionals who review program documents and conduct the accreditation site visits.

Year	Accreditation Activities
1	Collect Data, Analyze Data, Preconditions Review
2	Collect Data, Analyze Data
3	Collect Data, Analyze Data
4	Collect Data, Analyze Data, Preconditions Review
5	Collect Data, Analyze Data, Common Standards Review, Program Review
6	Collect Data, Analyze Data, Site Visit
7	Collect Data, Analyze Data, Follow-Up

Cohort Map and Contact

All Commission-approved program sponsors have been assigned a color cohort for the purposes of accreditation activities.  A list of institutions and their assigned color cohort may be found here.

The cohort map provides a schedule of required activities for each color cohort.  A link to the cohort maps and schedule by year can be found at: Accreditation Schedule of Activities. 

*Please note, at its December 7-8, 2024 meeting, the Commission voted to adjust the timeline of accreditation activities by one year to allow program sponsors and Commission staff to focus on implementing the new Literacy Standard and TPEs. The accreditation schedule has been adjusted to reflect the timing of accreditation activities for all color cohorts. Please see PSA 23-08 for additional information.

The color cohort email allows programs to communicate with a specified cohort consultant. All contact information can be found on the  PSD Contact Information webpage.

Cohort Map	Email
Red	psdRed@ctc.ca.gov
Orange	psdOrange@ctc.ca.gov
Yellow	psdYellow@ctc.ca.gov
Green	psdGreen@ctc.ca.gov
Blue	psdBlue@ctc.ca.gov
Indigo	psdIndigo@ctc.ca.gov
Violet	psdViolet@ctc.ca.gov

Additional Resources

Preconditions (Due March 31st in Years 1 and 4)

Program Review (Due October 15th in Year 5)

Common Standards (Due February 28th in year 5)

Site Visit (Year 6 Fall or Spring). Note: Site visit dates are scheduled approximately one year before the site visit takes place.

Accreditation Cohorts by Institution

 

Accreditation Schedule of Activities