I apologize that my signature line did not appear in my first email. I have added it below.

Thank you for the additional references to board comments, Tim.

Barb Brockevelt, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA

Chair & Professor, Occupational Therapy

Director, PhD in Health Sciences

University of South Dakota

Sanford Coyote Sports Center room A362

Vermillion, SD 57069

605-658-6358

605-658-5637 Fax

605-658-5999 Main office phone number

Hello all,

I am curious. How does the AOTA Board of Directors reconcile its current position with the position statement they issued in 2014 in which they recommended that the profession move to a single point of entry for the OT at the doctoral level?

https://www.aota.org/aboutaota/get-involved/bod/otd-statement.aspx#sthash.B2g7T9MK.dp

This position statement was one piece of evidence we used to support the transition.

Barb

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

wolftj@health.missouri.edu

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