BECOME AN APA SITE VISITOR

Become an APA Site Visitor

Join the site visitor team

The Commission on Accreditation (CoA) is actively recruiting accreditation site visitors! Join the team, give your CV a boost, and play a critical role in maintaining the integrity of the field of psychology. Also, every site visitor who completes a site visit may claim either 25 CEs or a journal subscription (once per calendar year). Both options are of no cost to the site visitor.

The site visit is an essential and unique step in the accreditation process — site visitors serve a critical role in providing information to the Commission on Accreditation about the quality of educational programs. Site visitors act as the "eyes and ears" of the Commission. It is through the written report of the site visitors that it is possible to verify self-study information and receive a perspective about the program operation that can only be obtained through direct observation.

Site visitor application process

Submit a Nomination

    The Commission on Accreditation invites nominations of individuals to serve as APA accreditation site visitors who meet the required criteria. In submitting a nomination, the nominator should provide a brief statement about why he or she thinks the nominee has the appropriate background and personal qualities to be included in the site visitor pool. Self-nominations are welcome.

    Please mail or email statement along with a current CV to:

    Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation 
    American Psychological Association 
    750 First Street, NE 
    Washington, DC 20002-4242 

    Attend Training

      Prior to participating in the site visit process, prospective site visitors must first receive training, for which CE credits are given. Training typically consists of a one-day workshop including both didactic and experiential exposure to the Standards of Accreditation (PDF, 799KB) and the role and functions of the site visitor. Check the Upcoming Accreditation Workshops. 

      The Commission makes a special effort to ensure diversity among site visitors. Therefore, the Commission strongly encourages the nomination of women and members of underrepresented groups.

      Site visitors are classified as either:

      Health Service Psychologists
      (i.e. in the areas of clinical, counseling, and school)

        Site visitor criteria
        • Have a doctoral degree from an APA accredited program and have a minimum of five years of professional experience subsequent to completion of the doctoral degree. This experience may include postdoctoral training. 
        • Are involved as faculty or training staff in an APA accredited training program or have an association with an APA training program within the past five years. 
        • If primarily engaged in independent service delivery, have a formal recent (within the past five years) association (e.g., adjunct faculty, external supervisor, didactics) within an accredited training program. 
        • Are knowledgeable about educational, professional and scientific issues in psychology. 
        • Are active members of professional (including scholarly) organizations within psychology.
        • Are willing to serve on doctoral, internship, and postdoctoral program site visit teams. 

        Generalists
        (from areas of psychology outside the scope of accreditation)

          Site visitor criteria
          • Have a doctoral degree from a regionally accredited institution and have a minimum of five years of postdoctoral professional experience.
          • Have involvement as faculty in a doctoral department or school, within a regionally accredited institution, with responsibility for delivering graduate psychology education that is not substantially online (or if retired, have had such association within the last five years).
          • Are knowledgeable about educational, professional, and scientific issues in psychology.
          • Are active members of professional (including scholarly) organizations within psychology.
          • Are willing to serve on doctoral program site visit teams only.

          What is a site visit?

          The Commission on Accreditation conducts, per year, approximately 75 visits to doctoral programs and 125 visits to internship/postdoctoral programs, necessitating the participation of well over 400 site visitors from all areas of psychology.

          On Site Review

          The site visit is an on site review of your program to help the Commission confirm that your program meets the Standards of Accreditation and your self-study information is valid.

          Point of Contact

          Since representatives of the programs do not appear before the Commission, only the site visit team has face-to-face contact with the psychologists involved in the program.

          Verification

          Site visitors act as the "eyes and ears" of the Commission. It is through the written report of the site visitors that it is possible to verify self-study information and receive a perspective about the program operation that can only be obtained through direct observation.

          An Essential Step

          The site visit is an essential and unique step in the accreditation process. As such, site visitors serve a critical role in providing information to the Commission about the quality of educational programs.

          FAQs about Becoming a Site Visitor

          • What qualifications do I need to be eligible as a site visitor?

            The CoA maintains strict criteria for inclusion in the site visitor pool. These can be found listed above. Once you have been approved, you must complete a full day Site Visitor Workshop before participating in a visit.

          • Do I have to be a member of an accredited doctoral program or staff at an accredited internship site to be eligible as a site visitor?

            Not necessarily. The criteria states you must have involvement as faculty or an association with an accredited training program. In other words, you must have direct contact with students or interns from an accredited program. This includes being an adjunct faculty member, being a teacher of seminars to students/interns in an accredited program or being a supervisor of students/interns at external sites. If you do not hold this kind of affiliation, but still feel you may be eligible, please consult with the Office of Accreditation.

          • How many people compose a site visit team?

            Each team will have a chair who is an experienced site visitor (i.e., has participated in three or more visits) and who has a professional background and experience compatible with the program being visited. In addition to the chair, site teams for doctoral programs will have at least two other members, and internship and postdoctoral residency programs will have at least one other member.

          • What is the process for being selected to be on a site visit team?

            Once you are trained, your name will appear on lists of potential site visitors to programs. The program will be provided with all of your contact information as well as your degree institution, specialty area and primary proficiency area. Site visit team chairs are appointed to programs by the CoA/OPCA. Members and generalists will appear on lists of potential site visitors to programs. Each program will then directly contact each person on the list(s) until it finds someone who is available for the proposed dates of the visit, and who has no potential conflict of interest with the program.

          • How many visits will I be expected to participate in each year? Is there a limit to the number I can agree to?

            You can accept or decline as many site visit requests as you wish. Being a site visitor is purely voluntary and you should only accept to do a visit if it will work with your schedule. Ideally, no site visitor will participate in more then two site visits per year, but this limit is merely a suggestion and should not limit you from doing additional visits if your schedule allows.

          • How often will I be contacted to participate in a site visit?

            Unfortunately, this question is very difficult to answer. Some years you may have many invitations, and other years, you may never receive a call. It is very dependent on your area of expertise and the types of programs up for review. Our new site visitors are always first on lists so that they may experience a visit while the training is still fresh.

          • How much time am I obligating myself to when I agree to do a site visit?

            A typical site visit is scheduled for two full days at the program site. Travel to and from the program should also be factored in. Additional time is needed prior to the visit for review of the self-study and other program materials, as well as after the visit for the writing of the site visit report (with the help of your other visitor[s]). The time needed for the site visit report varies on the complexity of the visit and delegation of work among your other team members. The site visit report is due to the Office of Accreditation 30 days following the visit.

          • Will I be reimbursed for all of my expenses?

            Expenses for food, hotel and travel are reimbursed following the visit. Travel arrangements should be made through ATC Travel Management so that the plane fare is paid directly by APA.

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