3.5 - ACCJC (Accreditation) DE Requirements

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Accreditation Policies and DE

Although accreditation sometimes is used as a reference point in motivating faculty regarding distance education teaching practices, for the most part accreditation's focus is at the program and institutional level. The significant exception to this regarding DE is the requirement that distance education classes demonstrate regular and substantive interaction between instructor and students.

The ACCJC's Policy on Distance and Correspondence Education Links to an external site. reiterates the federal definition of distance education, including standards for regular and substantive interaction. Additionally, it calls out the following policy elements informing institutional self-evaluation and accreditation related to distance education:

  • Development, implementation, and evaluation of all courses and programs, including those offered via distance education or correspondence education, must take place within the institution’s total educational mission (Standard II.A.1).
  • Institutions are expected to control development, implementation, and evaluation of all courses and programs offered in their names, including those offered via distance education or correspondence education (Standard II.A.2).
  • Institutions are expected to have clearly defined and appropriate student learning outcomes for all courses and programs, including those delivered through distance education or correspondence education (Standard II.A.3).
  • Institutions are expected to provide the resources and structure needed to accomplish these outcomes and to demonstrate that their students achieve these outcomes through application of appropriate assessment (Standards I.B.2, I.B.5, II.A.7, II.A.16, III.C.3, III.C.4). 
  • Institutions are expected to provide the Commission advance notice of intent to offer a program, degree or certificate in which 50% or more of the courses are via distance education or correspondence education, through the substantive change process. For purposes of this requirement, the institution is responsible for calculating the percentage of courses that may be offered through distance or correspondence education (Policy on Substantive Change).
  • Institutions must have processes in place establishing that a student who registers in any course offered via distance education or correspondence is the same student who academically engages in the course or program. 
  • The institution must also publish policies that ensure the protection of student privacy and will notify students at the time of class registration of any charges associated with verification of student identity.

Accreditation policies and practices continually evolve. See the ACCJC's standards and policies Links to an external site. to review the latest documentation and guidance to colleges on compliance with accreditation standards. 

As noted, the accreditor requires LATTC to receive approval for offering programs via distance education. Once half or more of the courses required for program completion are approved for DE offering via our curriculum process, the program is considered for accreditation purposes to be a DE program. DE Programs must be approved by the ACCJC  once they approach or cross that threshold. As new programs are created, and more courses are approved for DE offering, it is important for LATTC to continue to monitor the DE status of all programs and ensure they receive DE approval from ACCJC.

DE Accreditation Status History at LATTC

For the accreditation-curious, LATTC's accreditation website Links to an external site. includes many important accreditation-related documents, much of which include distance education-related information.