Career and Technology Center to be evaluated by accrediting agency

Cape Girardeau's Career and Technology Center will undergo an accreditation visit in November.

The school earned candidacy status about a year ago, director Rich Payne said. A team from the Atlanta-based Council on Occupational Education will evaluate the CTC from Nov. 10 through 13.

"The preparation for this visit has been approximately a two-year process," Payne said.

The U.S. Department of Education requires schools such as the CTC be accredited by a national organization. Payne said accreditation is needed to maintain federal financial aid, such as Pell Grants.

The CTC previously was accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, which lost its ability to accredit technical schools.

"We just went through that two years ago and passed with flying colors, but then they lost their ability to do accreditation for our school, so we had to seek out another accrediting agency," Payne said.

The accreditation procedure is different from it was with the North Central Association.

"It's a process. Each and every one of them has a different process," he said. "It's cumbersome because of the time, but it's well worth it. You kind of find under hidden rocks things that you maybe have not done well ... but at the same time, it is a good process for an institution to go through."

Council on Occupational Education executive director Gary Puckett said the team of four evaluators visiting the center next month will be from peer schools in Kentucky, Louisiana, Tennessee and Illinois, he said.

Puckett said the agency accredits about 500 public and private schools, and several others are going through it.

For a program to be approved, it has to have a completion rate of at least 60 percent and a 70 percent job placement rate, he said. If it's a program that requires state licensure, such as cosmetology or nursing, the passing rate has to be at least 70 percent.

"The requirements on the program to meet those levels mean they're continuing to offer programs where students can get jobs," Puckett said.

If a school is successful, the agency will visit again in six years.

"Most schools are successful if they're willing to put the time into it. They want to be able to say they're accredited. ... I think the exercise they have to go through makes a difference in services to students."

The CTC probably won't find out until early next year whether it passed accreditation. Puckett said the Accrediting Commission of the Council on Occupational Education is scheduled to meet Feb. 21 through 23 in Hilton Head, South Carolina, to decide on this and other items.

rcampbell@semissourian.com

388-3639