The Standards: Implications for Professional Licensure and Accreditation

Program evaluation faces an issue common to all emerging professions: how to assure the quality of its professional activities. The Joint Committee’s Standard A2 puts it succinctly: &dquo;The persons conducting the evaluation should be trustworthy and competent to perform the evaluation.&dquo; Two common approaches to assuring competence and, by implication, trustworthiness among members of a profession are licensure and accreditation. _ ’