PTC St. Pete aced the accreditation test!

OCTOBER 17, 2019 | COLLEGE NEWS

L-R, Assistant Director Chuck Drake, Curriculum Coordinator Dolores Stabile, and
Director Boe Norwood at the welcome reception for the COE members.

The St. Petersburg campus of Pinellas Technical College (PTC-SP) was recently recommended for reaffirmation of accreditation by the Council on Occupational Education (COE), whose primary role is to assure quality and integrity in career and technical education.

The COE is a national institutional accrediting agency for postsecondary occupational schools that offer certificate, diploma, or applied associate degree programs.

From Oct. 8-11, PTC-SP hosted a visiting team of 10 professionals from around the country who examined all their processes, procedure, curriculum, student services, human resources, and technical infrastructure.

"They were the A-Team from COE," said Chuck Drake, assistant director at PTC-SP. "These people really knew what they were looking for. Through their audit of our different programs and standards, they were very pleased with everything that we did."

Reaffirmation means an institution has maintained quality programs, undergone an extensive self-study and team review process, and has continued to meet the Commission's Stands and Conditions for Accreditation.

"They found no findings and offered no suggestions on how to improve," boasted Drake. "This is very rare for an institution of any size but especially one with 39 different programs.

Curriculum Coordinator Dolores Stabile was tasked with coordinating and preparing the documentation for the visit.  

"It was a huge job, but everybody as we asked for things, they stepped up," said Stabile. "They did what they needed to do. It was really a wonderful team effort."

This school-wide committee-based effort took 18 months, and the final report numbered around 800 pages. 

 "I am very proud of the work this faculty and staff have done to earn this level of achievement with COE," said Boe Norwood, director of PTC-SP. "Six years until the next reaffirmation is a reflection of the excellence with which everyone at PTC-SP performs his or her job."

The primary role of the COE is to assure quality and integrity in career and technical education. Accreditation by the board is viewed as a nationally-honored seal of excellence.

Accreditation is granted with subsequent reaffirmation scheduled for six years. Each institution must substantiate its accreditation each year through an annual report that reflects the status of the institution. PTC-SP has been accredited by the COE since 1975.