Program Decision Appeal Process

Program Decision Appeal Process

A program may appeal the following decisions made by the Commission on Accreditation (CoA): 
  • Denial of a site visit upon application for “accredited, on contingency” or initial “full accreditation”
  • Denial of “accredited, on contingency” status
  • Denial of “full accreditation” status
  • Accredited, on probation
  • Revocation of accreditation
  • Withdrawal (based on lack of adherence to the provisions of AOP § 1.3)

1

To file an appeal, a written notice must be addressed to the APA president within 30 days of the program’s receipt of written notice regarding the CoA’s appealable decision. The program’s letter of appeal needs to be from the CEO of a doctoral program’s host institution or the responsible administrative officer of an internship or postdoctoral residency program and include the nonrefundable appeal fee. The letter is required to specify the grounds of the appeal: either a procedural violation or substantive errors by the CoA in its review of the program consistency with the SoA.

2

The APA Board of Educational Affairs (BEA) will provide the program with a list of six potential appeal panel candidates within 30 days of receipt of the program’s letter of appeal. The Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation (OPCA) determines the willingness of the potential panel members to serve and notifies the program which has 15 days to select three panel members from this list. Both the program and the CoA will have an opportunity to challenge any of the designated panelists for due cause.

3

An appeal is a challenge of the CoA’s decision based on the evidence the CoA had at the time of its decision. Therefore, the appeal panel may only consider the information provided to the CoA at the time of its final decision including the letter that notified the program of the CoA decision, the letter of appeal, written briefs submitted by the program, and reply briefs submitted by the CoA.

The appeal panel will meet during one of three prescheduled appeal panel hearing dates. In addition to the three members of the appeal panel, the appeal hearing will be attended by one or more program representatives, one or more representatives of the CoA, and OPCA staff. Legal counsel may accompany either party, the program, or the CoA with the understanding that the proceedings are not a judicial forum but a forum to review the CoA’s decision in terms of procedural violations or substantive error.

4

The CoA’s decision should be affirmed unless there was a procedural error and adherence to the proper procedures would dictate a different decision or the CoA’s decision was plainly wrong or without evidence to support it.

The appeal panel may decide to (a) uphold the CoA decision, (b) amend the CoA decision, or (c) remand the matter to the CoA to address specific designated issues before final action. The panel’s report will be sent within 30 days of the hearing and will include the panel’s decision and its basis.
When an adverse CoA decision is based solely on a program’s failure to meet an agency standard pertaining to finances, the program will have one opportunity to seek review of new information by the Commission. This request must be received prior to the adverse action becoming final or any appeal hearing, whichever is earlier. Any determination by the CoA made with respect to review requested under this provision does not provide a basis for appeal.

The above provides a summary of the appeal process. For more detailed information on appealing a program decision, please see Section 2 of the Accreditation Operating Procedure and IR D.5 Related to appeal procedures.
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