< Accreditation Council on Optometric Education

ACOE Accreditation Process

Accreditation is a process of self-study and external review that ensures that an educational program meets or exceeds predetermined standards. The ACOE is recognized by the United States Department of Education as an authority on the quality of the educational programs it accredits. The ACOE uses the following steps in the accreditation process:

Development and publication of standards

The ACOE develops educational standards that are the requirements for programs to be accredited. Prior to adopting standards, the Council seeks input from the higher education community, the profession of optometry and the public at large to ensure that standards reflect requirements that are essential to operating an optometric program. The ACOE publishes the standards of accreditation for each of the three types of programs the ACOE accredits in its accreditation manuals. Click here to see a list of Accreditation Manuals and how to request them.

Self-study

The professional optometric degree, optometric residency or optometric technician program examines itself in light of how well it achieves its own mission, goals and objectives for the purpose of self-improvement and planning. The self-study also documents how the program meets the standards of the ACOE. The self-study is submitted to the ACOE with a letter of application for accreditation from the chief executive officer of the institution offering the program.

Invitation for comments about accredited programs

ACOE's accreditation process includes the consideration of third-party comments. The calendar of site visits (click here to see the upcoming site visits calendar) contains the accreditation status and the month and year of all site visits currently scheduled for the next year. For those programs that are seeking initial accreditation, the notation of "Initial" is listed. Third party comments must address substantive matters relating to the quality of the program and the ACOE standards and should be addressed to the administrative director of the Council at ACOE, 243 N. Lindbergh Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63141. Comments must be received 30 days prior to the program's scheduled site visit date. (In cases where the exact date is not yet determined, the month and year of the visit is listed, and the comments must be received by not later than the first day of the month preceding the site visit. All third party comments must be signed.) Comments will be forwarded to the evaluation team and to the appropriate program director for response during the evaluation visit process.

Evaluation visit

The ACOE sends a team of evaluators with expertise in optometric education and practice to visit the program to assess its compliance with the ACOE's standards. The team validates the self-study by interviewing students, faculty and administrators, reviewing records and files, and examining the facilities. ACOE strives to ensure that the team is impartial, objective and without conflict of interest.

Report of visit

Following the evaluation visit, the team writes a report of its findings that includes the team's findings relating the program's compliance with the ACOE standards. The report is forwarded to the program to review its factual accuracy before the finalized report is presented to the ACOE.

Determination of accreditation status

At regularly scheduled meetings, the ACOE reviews accreditation reports to determine if the programs meet the standards of accreditation and to award an appropriate accreditation category. The category of "accredited" means the program generally meets the standards of accreditation. "Accredited" indicates that the program has no major deficiencies that compromise the educational effectiveness of the total program. However, recommendations to address marginal compliance with certain standards and suggestions for program improvement may be included in the evaluation report. The category of "accredited with conditions" indicates major deficiencies or weaknesses in reference to the standards.

Publishing accreditation status

The Council publishes lists of accredited programs, which are updated regularly. Click here to view the current lists.

Monitoring accredited programs

The ACOE monitors accredited programs in between evaluation visits through annual reports, progress reports and, in some cases, interim visits to ensure that the programs address the recommendations to come into compliance with any unmet standards in a timely fashion.

Accreditation fees

The ACOE assesses programs seeking accreditation or pre-accreditation an application fee. Application fees for new programs should be submitted with the program’s initial self-study and letter of application. The current application fees follow:

Professional Optometric Degree Programs	$4,500
Optometric Residency Programs (VA and Non-VA)	$500
Optometric Technician Programs	$500

The following is the schedule of annual accreditation fees charged to each accredited program.

Type of program	ACOE Fees Beginning in 2006-07per program
Professional Optometric Degree Programs*	$2,250
Optometric Residency Programs at VA facilities**	$1,050
Optometry Residency Programs (Non-VA) *	$750
Optometric Technician Programs*	$750

*Non-VA programs will also be billed for expenses related to site visits. **The annual fees for VA residency programs include a prorated average cost of evaluation visit expenses distributed over a 7-year period.

Invoices for annual fees are sent in October, and payment is due to the ACOE by January 1 of each year.