The American National Standards Institute (ANSI), a globally recognized quality assurance entity (QAE), participated in a joint White House and U.S. Department of Education (DoE) symposium on November 15, an event aimed at spotlighting higher education innovations that are tied to greater equity and student success. Turan Ayvaz, director, ANSI Certificate Accreditation Program (ANSI-CAP), represented the Institute, which was recently selected to join the DoE's higher education initiative entitled Educational Quality through Innovative Partnerships (EQUIP) experiment.
The Symposium on Higher Education Innovation that Reduces Costs and Strengthens Quality,held in Washington, DC,provided updates on the EQUIP effort, which was created to improve transparency and meaningful quality assurance in programs offered by diverse post-secondary and non-traditional education providers. EQUIP includes partnerships from universities, private-sector education and training providers, and QAEs, and stems from the Obama Administration's large-scale effort to provide low-income students with access to new models of education and training.
Earlier this year, the DoE selected ANSI as part of a team that includes the State University of New York (SUNY) Empire State College and Flatiron School, working together to better measure claims that training providers make, assess whether a student has achieved learning outcomes, and determine the value that students get from completing an educational program.
Participants at the symposium interacted in functional areas (institutions, non-traditional providers, and QAEs), and with department staff on updates on the EQUIP experiment. [See how ANSI supports DoE's Focus on Quality and Transparency in Workforce-Relevant Educational Offerings in a related article.]
ANSI provides accreditation services that support the quality and validation of education and training programs. Through ANSI-CAP, the Institute accredits assessment-based education and training programs against the American National Standard ASTM E2659, which establishes guidelines for quality certificate program development and administration, and forms the foundation for a recognition system that enables consumers, employers, government agencies, and others to distinguish between qualified workers and those with less-than-quality credentials.
Also related to educational transparency, ANSI accredits personnel certification bodies against the international and American National Standard ANSI/ISO/IEC 17024, the global benchmark for personnel certification. This standard is designed to provide assurance that accredited personnel certifiers are appropriately assessing the knowledge and skills possessed by professionals and have a re-certification program in place to ensure continual updating of job-related knowledge and skills.
To find out more about ANSI-CAP and the EQUIP program, please contact Dr. Turan Ayvaz, director of ANSI's Certificate Accreditation Program, at [email protected], visit the ANSI Accreditation Services website, or watch the ANSI-CAP testimonial video.