The CAA requires accredited programs to annually report student achievement data in 3 areas—program completion, Praxis examination performance, and employment of graduates in the professions. To support assessment of a program’s effectiveness and to comply with accreditation standards, the CAA has established specific thresholds for program performance in each of the 3 required student achievement measures.
Thresholds for Student Achievement Measures
Program Completion Rates
The 3-year average program completion rate must meet or exceed 80%. At least 80% of students must have completed the program within the program’s published time frame, as averaged over the 3 most recently completed academic years.*
Praxis Examination Pass Rates
The 3-year average Praxis examination pass rate must meet or exceed 80%. At least 80% of test-takers from the program, excluding individuals who graduated more than 3 years ago, who have sat for the Praxis examination must have passed the test, as averaged over the 3 most recently completed academic years. Results should be reported only once for test-takers who took the exam multiple times in a single examination reporting period.*
Employment Rates
The 3-year average employment rate must meet or exceed 80%. At least 80% of program graduates must be employed in the profession or pursuing further education in the profession within 1 year of graduation, as averaged over the 3 most recently completed academic years.*
*Note: For guidance on calculating 3-year average rates for the student achievement measures, see Calculating Program Completion Rates.
Guidance
The CAA provides guidance on:
- Presenting Student Achievement Data
- Calculating Program Completion Rates
- CAA Usage of Student Achievement Data
How the Thresholds for Student Achievement Measures Were Established
These specific measures and related thresholds for performance were first established by the CAA in 2002 and have been reviewed and validated every 3 years for continued currency, appropriateness, and effectiveness in evaluating a program’s success. The CAA considers extensive research on current benchmarks in use by other accreditors, best practices in the areas of performance assessment and outcomes measurement, recommendations by the U.S. Department of Education, and national performance averages and trends when determining which achievement measures to require and when establishing related thresholds for those student achievement measures.
To aid in this review, aggregate data are compiled on accredited programs’ performance in meeting the thresholds; if a significant percentage of programs have not met CAA-established thresholds, CAA will delve more carefully into possible reasons that may account for programs’ not meeting the standard. CAA will then determine if the measure itself is still appropriate and/or if the threshold is set at an appropriate level.
