The
Accreditation Operation Procedures
(AOP) outline procedures that guide the accreditation process for programs to be accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA). Correspondent to the AOP are Implementing Regulations (IRs), which are official policy documents that “elucidate, interpret and operationally define” the CoA’s policies and procedures. IRs are divided into several different sections (A through E), which are subject to regular review and revision by the CoA. Through this iterative process, opportunities for clarification have arisen regarding IRs in Section D, which relate specifically to the AOP, and an IR in Section E, which addresses Self-Governance and Regulation.
Public Comment: D.3-1, D.3-2, D.3-11, & D.4-7(b)
Section 7 of the AOP at each level notes that the Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation maintains a database of potential site visitors. IR D.3-1 has been edited to clarify qualifications for APA site visitors and the CoA has modified its classifications of site visitors. Site visitors are now classified as either “Educators” or “Practitioners” with generalists (i.e., visitors training and qualified in areas of psychology outside the scope of accreditation) falling in the “Educators” category. While this change means that not all doctoral site visit teams will require a generalist, the Commission would like to express that it highly values generalist contributions to site visits and will continue to include generalists on doctoral site visit team lists of prospective visitors. Generalists remain strongly encouraged to attend site visitor trainings and to serve on site visit teams. IR D.3-2 has been revised with new criteria for the composition of site visit teams and the selection of site visitors (based on the new classifications in IR D.3-1). IR D.3-11 has been updated accordingly to align with these revisions.
Section 1 of the AOP states that all accredited programs are reviewed annually, and IR D.4-7(a) addresses the use of annual reports for reaffirmation of accredited status and monitoring of individual programs. The revision to this IR focuses on the integration of accredited master’s programs including a master’s-specific “success indicator” to determine thresholds.
In accordance with the APA "Policies for Accreditation Governance" and U.S. Department of Education regulations for notice and comment, the CoA will make the proposed revisions available for a sixty (60) day period of public review and comment. The comment period is scheduled to begin at
5:00 pm Eastern Standard Time on December 1, 2025 and will continue through 5:00pm Eastern Standard Time on January 30, 2026. Information about the proposed standards and public comment is available at
http://apps.apa.org/accredcomment/.
To promote thoughtful discussion, the CoA is providing an electronic-based form for public comment submission. Comments and other information, including users' identities will be public while email addresses used in the registration process will be confidential. The CoA will consider all comments received and make appropriate revisions should they be deemed necessary before approval of the final versions of the IRs.
The Accreditation Operation Procedures (AOP) outline procedures that guide the accreditation process for programs to be accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA). Correspondent to the AOP are Implementing Regulations (IRs), which are official policy documents that “elucidate, interpret and operationally define” the CoA’s policies and procedures. IRs are divided into several different sections (A through E), which are subject to regular review and revision by the CoA. Through this iterative process, opportunities for clarification have arisen regarding IRs in Section D, which relate specifically to the AOP, and an IR in Section E, which addresses Self-Governance and Regulation.
Public Comment: D.3-1, D.3-2, D.3-11, & D.4-7(b)
Section 7 of the AOP at each level notes that the Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation maintains a database of potential site visitors. IR D.3-1 has been edited to clarify qualifications for APA site visitors and the CoA has modified its classifications of site visitors. Site visitors are now classified as either “Educators” or “Practitioners” with generalists (i.e., visitors training and qualified in areas of psychology outside the scope of accreditation) falling in the “Educators” category. While this change means that not all doctoral site visit teams will require a generalist, the Commission would like to express that it highly values generalist contributions to site visits and will continue to include generalists on doctoral site visit team lists of prospective visitors. Generalists remain strongly encouraged to attend site visitor trainings and to serve on site visit teams. IR D.3-2 has been revised with new criteria for the composition of site visit teams and the selection of site visitors (based on the new classifications in IR D.3-1). IR D.3-11 has been updated accordingly to align with these revisions.
Section 1 of the AOP states that all accredited programs are reviewed annually, and IR D.4-7(a) addresses the use of annual reports for reaffirmation of accredited status and monitoring of individual programs. The revision to this IR focuses on the integration of accredited master’s programs including a master’s-specific “success indicator” to determine thresholds.
In accordance with the APA "Policies for Accreditation Governance" and U.S. Department of Education regulations for notice and comment, the CoA will make the proposed revisions available for a sixty (60) day period of public review and comment. The comment period is scheduled to begin at 5:00 pm Eastern Standard Time on December 1, 2025 and will continue through 5:00pm Eastern Standard Time on January 30, 2026. Information about the proposed standards and public comment is available at http://apps.apa.org/accredcomment/.
To promote thoughtful discussion, the CoA is providing an electronic-based form for public comment submission. Comments and other information, including users' identities will be public while email addresses used in the registration process will be confidential. The CoA will consider all comments received and make appropriate revisions should they be deemed necessary before approval of the final versions of the IRs.