Hello all,
The U.S. Department of Education (DOE), under the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 34, Chapter VI, Part 602, Subpart B, Section 602.14, outlines criteria for purpose and
organization for an accrediting body to be recognized by the Department of Education. Paragraph b describes the requirement to be “separate and independent” from the Association. In this section it states that the accrediting body can jointly share personnel,
services, etc. as long as joint use “does not compromise the independence and confidentiality of the accreditation process”
Here is a direct excerpt
(1)
The members of the agency's decision-making body - who decide the accreditation or pre-accreditation status of institutions or programs, establish the agency's accreditation
policies, or both - are not elected or selected by the board or chief executive officer of any related, associated, or affiliated trade association or membership organization;
The federal law explicitly states that an elected board is not to interfere with the accreditation process.
Please understand what just happened. The AOTA BOD, with consultation with their legal counsel, has decided that their authority as a board supersedes this USDE requirement.
There is leeway in what is allowed in terms of written agreements between professional associations, but we are required to have written agreements and abide by them.
Per our agreements and actions for the last 20 years, the authority to determine entry level degrees has for 20 years been left to ACOTE unchallenged by our profession. There is no language anywhere in any official document of AOTA that says this
decision should be AOTA’s and not ACOTE’s.
Your professional accreditation is now at risk. Without professional accreditation we don’t exist.
This folks is a dark day for our profession.
Best wishes to you all
Tim
Timothy J. Wolf, OTD, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA
Associate Professor and Chair
Department of Occupational Therapy
University of Missouri
810 Clark Hall
Columbia, MO 65211
573-882-8403
From: ot-pd@aotalists.org [mailto:ot-pd@aotalists.org]
Sent: Friday, August 10, 2018 5:33 PM
To: ot-pd@aotalists.org
Subject: [OT-PD List - AOTA] - A Message from AOTA Board of Directors on the OTD and OTA Mandates
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Amy J. Lamb, OTD, OT/L, FAOTA
President, American Occupational Therapy Association (2016 - 2019)
Associate Professor, Eastern Michigan University Occupational Therapy Program
Owner, AJLamb Consulting LLC
Occupational Therapy is a health and wellness profession that assists people in developing the skills they need to participate in everyday life where they live, learn, work and play.
Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson