What to expect from the call with your commissioners
To ensure maximum value as part of the accreditation process, IACET has commited to exemplary communications during the accreditation review. As a part of your accreditation review (either for initial or renewal) your organization has the ability to request a phone conference with your review team. To request a conference call, use the messaging link within the application portal to contact the appropriate IACET staff:
Every effort will be made by IACET staff to schedule the call before the second submission to the commissioners. The deadline for resubmission will be adjusted based on when the call is scheduled. This often resolves most questions about what to resubmit. After the second review, most applications are deemed ready for the site visit. Occasionally, an application may go to a third review cycle. If an application is going to be reviewed a third time with the additional $400 third-review fee, IACET staff will recommend that a call be scheduled between the applicant and the review team if one has not been previously requested.
To schedule the call, IACET staff will send a Doodle poll to all that are required on the call. When you request a call with the commissioners, be sure to include the contact information of all who should attend. Once a common meeting date and time have been established, IACET staff will send out an Outlook Meeting Invite with the GoToMeeting access information.
Applicants are requested to prepare for the call by documenting their questions and submitting them to IACET staff no later than 2 days prior to the call. Guidance for this preparation is documented at the end of this article.
During the call, regardless of when in the review cycle it occurs, the commissioners will provide additional clarity to the comments they supplied in the application report. The call is not, however, intended to be a live review by the commissioners. It is intended to help the applicant understand what they need to do for the next submission. The commissioners will not be able to make a decision on the call as to whether or not the proposed resubmitted evidence will satisfy the deficiencies. During the review process, the application is taken as a whole, and there is not enough time during the phone conference to judge the entirety of an application. During the call, commissioners may go through the application category by category or they may provide a more holistic synopsis of your organization’s Continuing Education and Training program, policies and procedures. Either way, the commissioners will make every effort to help your organization understand the next steps you will need to take.
To prepare for the call with the commissioners, it is requested that the applicant prepare a list of questions. These can include:
- Elements from the Standard that require clarity.
- Comments from the commissioners that may be unclear to the applicant.
- Proposed evidence for items marked deficient (see caveat above about the call is not to be a live review).
The reviewers will also reference guidance documents available from IACET which can be downloaded from the application portal. Please review these documents as they can help with the resubmission.
It is recommended that the applicant study the report given from the previous review. It can be downloaded as a pdf from the application portal.
The list of questions should be forwarded to IACET staff no later than 2 days prior to the scheduled call so that the commissioners and staff are informed and equipped to respond to all questions.