ACPE Manuals

Standard 2 – Curriculum

A program has an articulated curriculum for its educational programs and demonstrates a continuous process for improvement of its curriculum.

Rationale

An ACPE program’s curriculum describes the knowledge, skills, attitudes, values, and accomplishments expected of the student in accordance with the ACPE Outcomes and Indicators and if applicable, the Certified Educator Competencies. See Certified Educator CPE for more information.

An ACPE program regularly assesses and reviews its curriculum in pursuit of the best educational experience for students.

Indicators

In assessing this area, reviewers will look at the program’s:

A. Articulation of the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values that it expects students to gain in their program.
B. Evidence of alignment with ACPE Outcomes and Indicators and if applicable, Certified Educator Competencies.
C. Defined process for continuous review, assessment, and updates (action-reflection-action)
D. Engagement of its stakeholders in the review process
E. Utilization of the 400 hours required for a unit. See also Defining a Unit or Half-Unit of CPE for more information.

Items that must be included in the program’s portfolio:

  1. A written curriculum for all CPE program levels for which the center is accredited. For programs utilizing video conferencing in any portion of their program, indicate any adaptations that are made to your curriculum.
  2. A presentation that highlights the curricular features that are specific to the center and that offers a rationale for features that differ from standard practices for ACPE programs
  3. A curriculum crosswalk of curricular topics and ACPE Outcomes and Indicators and Certified Educator Competencies (if applicable)
  4. A written plan and procedure defining the program’s process of curricular review, assessment, and updating. The plan should include course content and materials; success with respect to student achievement; educational methods and supervisory relationships; student to educator ratio; appropriate levels of challenge in individual learning contracts; assessment of students’ experience of the curriculum. For programs utilizing video conferencing for any portion of their program, a specific articulation of the video conferencing review process and how you integrate the results of the analysis required in the Using of Video Conferencing in a Unit of CPE.
  5. A presentation of the impact of revisions to the overall program resulting from the program’s assessment/review process and its use of student survey/interview, other stakeholder interviews and/or focus groups, and assessment/evaluation tools.