Cape CTC applying for accreditation

The Cape Girardeau Career and Technology Center is applying for accreditation with the Council on Occupational Education after its previous accrediting agency lost its standing with the U.S. Department of Education.

According to assistant director Libby Guilliams, the center originally was accredited through the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement. Under that agency, she said the school would apply for reaccreditation every five years.

She said the NCA was designed to accredit secondary schools before the task was undertaken by state departments. Now, most schools choose to apply for accreditation through the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Guilliams said.

"After that, the NCA transitioned to postsecondary schools and career and technology centers and their focus was on improvement more than being the compliance police," she explained. "But the Department of Education wanted more of a compliance agent ... they were just going in different directions."

Guilliams said the NCA lost its standing in February, which left the center an 18-month grace period to apply for accreditation with a new agency. She said the center chose to get an early start and already has begun working on the application process with the commission of the Council on Occupational Education.

"We went with this particular agency because they, for 40-plus years, have focused on occupational education, which includes schools like ours and even community colleges, rather than traditional academia," she said. "They have a real understanding of what we do."

Guilliams said the idea of a career and technology center can often confuse those unfamiliar with the concept. The center, which provides training for both adults and high school students, is a "hybrid between high school and community college," which is why she said it was pleased to find an agency that understood its operation.

The council will meet July 31 and decide whether to approve the center for accreditation candidacy. If approved, Guilliams said the process of achieving full accreditation will take about two years.

During that transition time, however, she said the school will receive the same benefits as a fully accredited school.

"It doesn't limit us," Guilliams said. "We don't have any plans to add any new programs in the near future, but plans can change. So if we wanted to expand, this wouldn't hold us back."

The switch to the new agency resulted in very few changes, she added. Most of the work the center did to gain accreditation through the previous agency will transfer to the new application, Guilliams said.

"Students will know no difference," she said. "Day-to-day operations for students, and faculty, for that matter, won't change."

srinehart@semissourian.com

388-3641

Pertinent address:

1080 S. Silver Springs Road, Cape Girardeau, MO