Accreditation is a system for recognizing educational institutions and professional programs for performance, integrity and quality. This recognition is extended primarily through nongovernmental, voluntary associations. These accreditors establish criteria for accreditation, arrange site visits, evaluate institutions and professional programs, and confer accreditation.

Although accreditation is basically a private, voluntary process, it is often a consideration in decision making by governmental funding agencies, scholarship commissions, foundations, employers, and potential students.

Mission

The Planning Accreditation Board (PAB) ensures high quality education for future urban planners.

Core Values

The PAB embraces the following five core values:

• Stewardship: preserving and enhancing the knowledge base of the urban planning profession with which the Board has been entrusted.
• Collaboration: building and sustaining a bridge between the academic and practitioner com­munities.
• Communication: fostering awareness of urban planning education and its environment.
• Integrity: maintaining a commitment to fairness, transparency, and consistency.
• Leadership: maintaining currency with regard to state-of-the-art accreditation practice and instructional innovation.

Functions

In order to accomplish its mission, the PAB:

• Accredits graduate and undergraduate planning programs in North America.
• Mentors programs to further academic excellence in professional education.
• Collects and provides data on the state of planning education (student profiles, performance, placement, effectiveness, etc.).
• Strengthens professional education in partnership with its sponsors: the ACSP (Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning), the AICP (American Institute of Certified Planners), and APA (the American Planning Association).

ASPA Membership and CHEA Recognition

PAB is a member of the Association of Specialized and Professional Accreditors (ASPA) and adheres to the ASPA Code of Good Practice.

PAB is recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA), adheres to the CHEA Recognition Policy, and undergoes periodic review. The CHEA website provides detailed information, including an important item that discusses degree mills and accreditation mills.

PAB is currently undergoing the CHEA re-recognition process. In July 2011 CHEA’s Committee on Recognition recommended to the CHEA Board a one-year deferral of action. In September 2011 the CHEA Board accepted that recommendation.

The reasons for the deferral by the Committee and the Board follow:

1. PAB’s three sponsoring organizations, the ACSP, AICP, and APA, must approve changes to the accreditation standards in order for the changes to become effective. Additional information was requested wherein PAB clarifies what steps it is taking to assure that it operates independently of the sponsoring organizations given the influence they might have over PAB’s accreditation standards.

2. In its proposed new standards, PAB is implementing a criterion to require programs to provide information to the public on their performance. Evidence was requested of PAB’s implementation of its new standards, wherein programs will be required to provide information to the public on their performance, including student achievement.

PAB will be resubmitting information to CHEA in mid-2012 and expects a final decision in late 2012.