ABSTRACT
UC counts at least 39 specialized accreditors, including those offering recognition in such fields as dentistry (ADA: the American Dental Association), interior design (CIDA: Council for Interior Design Accreditation), physical therapy (CAPTE: Committee on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education), speech pathology (ASHA: the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association), and architecture (NAAB: National Architectural Accrediting Board). This chapter offers a largely positive assessment of specialized accreditation, one justified by many examples of good practice. People cannot generalize about specialized accreditation without offering qualifications. Even the most familiar model, the accreditation of a program within an institution, almost always involves some evaluation of the institution as well, because the quality of a program cannot be assessed effectively outside of its institutional context. Autonomy has never been an issue for organizations that developed apart from disciplinary organizations.
