Campus News

College Awarded NACEP Accreditation

5/2/16
The National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships (NACEP) granted national accreditation to concurrent enrollment programs offered by 15 colleges and universities, including Minnesota West Community & Technical College to be accredited by NACEP. Accreditation is awarded to concurrent enrollment programs that provide college credit-bearing courses to high school students taught by college-approved high school teachers. As the only national set of quality standards applicable to concurrent enrollment partnerships, NACEP’s standards serve as the model criteria for ensuring that the course content and expectations for student work in concurrent enrollment match those on the campus of the sponsoring college or university.

Concurrent enrollment programs at the following MnSCU colleges earned initial accreditation:  Minnesota West Community & Technical College and Minnesota State Community & Technical College.

“By taking advantage of opportunities such as concurrent enrollment, Minnesota students are accessing college earlier, and families are saving thousands of dollars,” said Steven Rosenstone, chancellor of Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. “Accreditation by NACEP further demonstrates that the programs offered by our colleges and universities adhere to the highest standards and provide a seamless transition to college.”

Minnesota West Community & Technical College President, Dr. Terry Gaalswyk notes, “NACEP accreditation demonstrates Minnesota West’s concurrent enrollment and PSEO programs adhere to the highest academic standards. The college’s commitment to provide the highest quality, most accessible, affordable options for post-secondary education assures students of Southwestern Minnesota are advantaged when matriculating from high school to college.  We are pleased to share this news and look forward to expanding our high school partnerships in support of our talented high school students.”

Dr. Kayla Westra, Dean of Distance Learning & Technology at Minnesota West, comments, “NACEP provides us with a strong, evidence-based set of standards to ensure that our concurrent enrollment program with high schools is offering quality education to students in our area high schools.  We appreciated NACEP’s review of our policies, practices, and guidelines, as we have continued to evolve our REACH program since its inception in 1989.  Our concurrent enrollment program, REACH, aligns with Minnesota West’s mission of access to quality education, and we are proud to have earned this accreditation and look forward to serving our region’s students in the years ahead.” 

To earn accreditation from NACEP, concurrent enrollment programs conduct a self-study, document how their programs adhere to NACEP’s seventeen standards, and undergo a rigorous peer-review process conducted by a team of representatives from NACEP‐accredited programs as well as the NACEP Accreditation Commission. The Commission's commitment to public disclosure includes a complete Record of Decisions reached at its spring meeting that ended April 13.

“Policymakers are increasingly looking towards dual and concurrent enrollment as a fundamental way to improve a student’s chance for college success while reducing the cost of college to families,” noted NACEP Executive Director Adam Lowe. “If students are to fully realize the benefits of concurrent enrollment, institutions must devote adequate resources and develop effective systems to oversee the academic quality of these courses - which these fifteen programs have demonstrated by implementing our national standards of program excellence.”

NACEP’s standards were developed and refined over many years, serve as a model for quality standards in seventeen states and three disciplinary professional organizations, and are implemented by a wide range of higher education institutions.

NACEP-accredited programs recently elected Bretton DeLaria of St. Louis University to join the NACEP Accreditation Commission as a Four-year Postsecondary Institutional Representative and Katie Bucci of Broom Community College (NY) as a Two-Year Postsecondary Institutional Representative. NACEP also announces the appointment of Victoria Zeppelin of Tompkins Cortland Community College (NY) as the Chair of the Commission, a role held since the Commission's establishment in 2013 by Jaclyn Dumond of University of Southern Indiana. Deanna Jessup of Indiana University fills the new Vice Chair of the Commission, the position previously held by Ms. Zeppelin.

The full listing of 98 programs nationwide currently accredited by NACEP can be found at: http://nacep.org/docs/accreditation/NACEPAccreditedPrograms.pdf.

About the National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships (www.nacep.org):
NACEP works to ensure that college courses offered in high schools are as rigorous as courses offered on the sponsoring college campus. As the sole national accrediting body for concurrent enrollment partnerships, NACEP helps these programs adhere to the highest standards so students experience a seamless transition to college and teachers benefit from meaningful, ongoing professional development. To advance the field and support our national network of 375 colleges and universities, 45 high schools and school districts, and 23 state agency and system office partners, we actively share the latest knowledge about best practices, research, and advocacy. Our annual conference in Louisville, Kentucky on October 16-18, 2016, will once again be the premier destination for college officials, high school leaders, policymakers, and researchers interested in creating an effective academic bridge between high school and college.