Accreditation 101: Develop, Assess, and Report Program Goals.

The aim of this article is to highlight the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA) accreditation requirements for PA program goals, describe methods for writing effective goals, provide examples and analysis of hypothetical goals, and encourage the use of effective reporting strategies. Programs are encouraged to use one of 3 mnemonic conventions with each providing a useful framework for identifying key elements of goals: FAST, SMART, and Objectives and Key Results. These 3 acronyms are easy to remember and will yield goals that are consistent with the requirements of ARC-PA.